The Agilests
by LilBrown
Summary: Definately AU and AH. Edward is a pro runner that has unique talents and abilities... or so he thinks. Bella comes along and shows him the unknown world of the Agilests and his world is never the same. M for darkish themes at the end
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Crowds cheered, women wolf whistled (and some men did, which startled me greatly), and I noticed some girls even went so far as to write their numbers on their t-shirts as I stepped up to the race line. I vaguely wondered how they could fit it onto their shirts; for the girls had obviously mauled theirs with a machete or something to make it skimpier.

Did they think that was attractive?

I spotted another ostentatious banner that had my name and read: _WE LOVE YOU, EDWARD MASON!!_ With hearts and glitter all over it. I almost flinched away from their squeals and announcements of their love for me.

I smiled a polite smile in their direction and I swear I saw one faint, but I wasn't paying much attention. I didn't race for the glory, or the fame, or the money: I needed and outlet to vent the power I often felt in a healthy way.

Doctors far and near could not explain my body's seemingly immune state to having tired muscles. They tried to blame it on my DNA, but the strands were all pretty normal (one young female doctor tried to use an absurd pick-up line saying that I had the "hunk" gene). Others thought it was a dangerous dormancy of my nervous system that didn't tell my brain when I was in pain fast enough, but my reflexes were so good that I could almost anticipate a source of pain. If you went to hit me I could dodge it pretty easily. If you came from behind, some sense told me to move.

I am not saying I am some Superman; bullets can puncture my skin and will kill me, I swear. I don't believe that kryptonite affects me, and I have no super, inhuman strength. My body just had a few unique quirks to it. So what if I can run a bit farther and faster than average? Tiger Woods is an exceptional golfer; I don't see any lunatic doctor trying to pump his veins with some radioactive tracer to see how he does it.

The blinding lights turned on to illuminate the stadium from the nighttime around us while I was getting in the zone. The tension in the air and the adrenaline in my veins were almost a palpable object; as if you could literally pick it out of me like a piece of lint from my hair. The other racers got to the line and eyed me warily; no doubt having recognized my face and recalling my abilities.

Trying to ignore their whispers and stares proved rather difficult, but not impossible. The race would begin in about ten minutes from the present eight o'clock at night, so I just kept my eyes slightly out of focus to overlook the spectators and the other opponents; not thinking of anything except the release my muscles were about to achieve from unleashing their abilities.

Running held a strange effect on me. I loved to run. My muscles ached to run, while most others ache because of the run. It was like I had to withdraw and rein in their powers all other times except the run. I looked around the ridiculously large arena; approximately forty-thousand seats according to the brochure. I found running exhilarating; how WATCHING it could be that much of a thrill is beyond me.

Ignoring the others grew impossible when one tapped my shoulder. I sighed and turned.

Only I turned and caught a glimpse of an angel. No, much more than a glimpse; my eyes would never be able to tear themselves away from such a spectacle. There in front of me stood a woman with brown hair that flowed much like the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her eyes were only about a million shades of brown and completely drew me into them; I almost staggered forward from her gravitational pull. He cream-colored skin was blemish-free and the only disruption my eyes had from scanning at every crevice of said skin was a runner's uniform. I was confused by her uniform, than I was completely mortified. I literally just checked her out.

My eyes immediately snapped up to hers and I tried to suppress my impish expression. She met my eyes with an amused expression. She did a once over of me and looked back up at me.

"I just wanted to say good luck, not that you'll need it; I have heard of your abilities and am greatly curious," her melodic voice said politely with a beautiful chuckle. My mind managed to operate passed its slightly dazed state to be able to reply with, "Thank you; the best of luck to you Miss…?"

"Bella Swan," She said automatically, "I am sorry for my lack of needing an introduction, Mr. Mason." She said light-heartedly, laughing a soft, mesmerizing laugh.

"It is quite alright, it-" I cut off, speaking softly and rather too intensely for an acquaintance-acquaintance relationship. I was about to say _it is nice that you know me, I like that you know me_, but I thought that sounded a little too deep, so I twisted the words a little and went with, "it is nice to meet you." She cocked her head to the side, her secretive eyes probing; as if she knew I was holding something back. I smiled a wide smile and had the pleasure of watching the pupils of her bottomless eyes dilate ever-so slightly, glad that I caught the attention of someone that I wanted to see me for once.

She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, and I would have thought the gesture to be a blink but it was a little too long as she shook her head slightly; my turn to be amused. She opened her eyes and smiled, nodding slightly in goodbye. I was not oblivious to the pang I felt at the thought of a goodbye from this girl. She turned on her heel and went to her position- reminding me that she was a runner.

I tried to remember past articles of my opponents to see if I could place her in any of them, but truth be told I never really read much of them. Not to be smug, but they were never competition. Not to mention the fact that if I saw her cherubic face on a magazine article I would never forget it. I hoped this girl was a good sport and my beating her would not damage our relationship.

Relationship! The absurdity of it all made me snort. I didn't even know the most trivial of facts about her and I was already engrossed with her. Instantly breaking my almost longing gaze at her, my mind tried to shake off the snares in which she held my conscious mind; my muscles demanding the attention that they so rarely got. I focused on each one, tightening them and relaxing them. My every leg muscle started to sing with anticipation, my heart pounded as a preemptive strike to give oxygen to my body, and my arms ready to fling myself forward.

The other racers broke off of their conversations and got into place as a middle-aged man stepped to the side of the track with the starting pistol. I crouched into an almost predator-like stance as I awaited the gun to sound; signaling the beginning of the mile run. My peripherals could not help themselves as they sought out Bella. I snapped out of it and focused again.

The stout man's arm raised, gun in the air. The crowd seemed to be one entity, all holding its breath and tense; well, I suppose it is invigorating to watch after all.

The gun sounded and that is when I got a sort of tunnel vision, intent on my target. I had anticipated his gunshot milliseconds faster than most of my opponents, but I wasn't checking to see who had good reflexes, I was too absorbed with the way my muscles felt; I would lose the competition soon enough.

It is hard to explain the stimulation, the exhilaration, the pure, overwhelming joy that I felt. It was the best release I could get; it was my fix of some addictive drug. The roar of the crowd and the heavy breaths of my challengers all faded into the background of the noise of my heart pumping, my feet pounding, and my muscles almost sighing.

It was three minutes into the race when I realized that I should have been alone, but wasn't. The other opponents should have been only about half way, about one-thousand feet behind me. My tunnel vision evaporated through shock of the revelation and I looked to see who it was.

It was that angel, Bella Swan, pumping her alluring legs and arms in the most sensual and sensational of ways. I saw that she started to pass me through my distraction and picked up the pace, for the first time in I don't know how long (possibly ever) actually having competition. It was truly neck and neck and I almost started to get winded (mostly out of surprise). She seemed just as fine as I was; not fighting for breath in the least. We both pushed each others' limits as we sped along the track at what was a positively unprecedented speed. She looked at me fleetingly with a smile that made my heart pound even faster.

She picked up speed and I realized that I, too, could accelerate. It should have made me slightly worried that I had never gone this fast before, but it only made me more ecstatic, more on cloud nine.

We were pounding so fast that everything else seemed to blur; I wrote it off as some result of adrenaline. There was literally only me and her in this fuzzy world. We crossed the line, nearly tearing the chalk and the track below it up I am sure, and we both smiled at each other as we actually had to breathe harder than usual.

I was about to ask her a few questions when I noticed the eerie silence. Did we freak people out with how fast we were going? I looked around and everyone was frozen in masks of a combination of awe, wonder, and, for some, fear. I took a glance at Bella, who was looking at me with an expression of expectation. I guessed that she wanted me to explain our behavior to the crowd.

There was one major problem, though. Nobody was staring at the same place. Some stared where the runners were, some about five yards in front of them, ten in front of that, five in front of that. It was like they found something on the track worthy of awe on every part of the track.

Bella walked forward and I noticed that nobody looked directly at her or me; they looked in our general area (and by "general area" I mean that they looked at the track), but not at us. I had a silly second of relief; I could get away from the spotlight for once.

"Ah, Carlisle was right…" Bella murmured, seeming to take a diagnostic of the situation. I was so confused I could barely talk, so I went with an ever-so-coherent "Huh?"

"Can you understand what I am saying?" She asked. How odd; "Yes?" I said, unsure of where she was going.

"Can you see the vibrant colors of the stadium and people around you?" She asked in the same monotonous, ridiculously serious tone.

I was about to answer yes when the color seemed to leech from the world besides Bella and me. I sucked in a shocked gust of air. Nobody was moving, the colors around us were very dull, but we appeared fine.

"Are you seeing what I am?" She asked, not at all panicky or disturbed.

"If you are seeing pale colors and zombie-like people, than yes," I answered faintly, still staring at everything around us.

"What happened?" I asked, bewildered. She thought for a moment before turning on me and giving me a penetrating gaze.

"We outran the speed of light, sound and even time itself."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The reaction that I wanted to have was amusement; I wanted to discredit this assumption and think of another solution… but there was none…

Racking my brain for anything that fit into our current scenario seemed futile; but trying to grasp her explanation of reality was equally impossible. I looked at Bella and I could see that panic wasn't crippling her like it should be; than I realized that I desperately needed air and had stopped breathing.

Air flew threw my lungs as I gulped at the air greedily, positive that I looked like a beached fish.

"What do we do? Wait for them to catch up?" I asked, peering around the crowd.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," She said with a bit of humor. Humor! At a time like this!

"Why not, what else can we do?" I asked, irked that she had such control and answers that she was obviously not sharing with the class.

"We have to head back to our time zone, I will show you." She said, leading the way to an exit I hadn't seen before.

I looked back up to the crowd and saw the creepy women that had my names on their mauled shirts and found that they looked even more possessed with the lack of color around them; their skin took on a ghastly glow and their eyes seemed silver. I shivered again.

"It's ok, I won't let the hormonal women get you," she said in a playful tone walking away, but I detected the edge of protection in it…or imagined it. I sighed, she was impossible to read…so many possibilities in only one of her gestures. I was suddenly appreciative of our odd predicament, however heart-stopping it may be; I wanted to find out more about her.

She led me to an open window and started to climb out, but I caught her arm.

"Why not just use the door?" I asked, bewildered…AGAIN. She laughed.

"Sorry, I know this must be new to you," She began, but I cut her off, "It isn't new to YOU?!" I asked incredulously. She looked calculative, than decisive. She took her leg out of the window she was about to scale out of and stood in front of me. She sighed.

"No, this isn't my first time evading light and sound waves and time," She said in a slightly weary tone, and I was aware that she was trying to let me down easy, good luck.

"You are one of the few Agilests in the world," She started again after scanning my reaction, which was a calm mask of indifference.

"Agilests are beings who can outrun almost anything; light, sound, time, molecules in the air, et cetera for as long and fast as they want to." She explained, "Every now and again, an Agilest can have another talent within their speed. Mine, for instance, is the ability to slow my body down to a normal speed; I can let the things catch up to me if I want to. This ability helps Carlisle, our 'leader' if you will, to find and help other Agilests. We saw your magazine articles and even some doctors' physicals and new that you were an Agilest, so I came to today's race here to push your limits and explain to you who you are." She explained further with devastating facts that certainly shattered my calm façade.

"How did you get a hold of my medical files? What are other talents that Agilests have? How many of you…us are there? How long have I been an Agilest? Is it something that you obtain or are born with? Were my parents," I started voiced the billions of questions that threatened to explode my mind, but she cut me off with a finger to my lips. She looked at me with the same amused expression and if it wasn't so beautiful and the action wasn't so unchivalrous I would have felt like tackling this enraging yet spellbinding woman.

"Will you let me finish?" She asked. I nodded a curt nod and she rolled her eyes and continued.

"There are, as far as we know, seven Agilests in our…clan, if you will, and about sixteen others who are mainly nomadic and don't have a group or clan. Carlisle was the first to discover his talents and than slowly built an alternate universe that could handle our speeds; we will go there shortly. His son was the next addition to our clan, Jasper. Jasper has a power too; he can actually swim through the air, if you can picture that. Imagine that this whole world is a swimming pool, only you can breathe, and he can push off the walls and floor and literally float. Of course, he can turn off his power somehow and decide to follow the laws of physics," She said almost in awe. That is a pretty cool talent, I guess, but I was too much in shock to be awed.

"The next that Carlisle found was Emmett. Emmett has a talent, too. His talent is he can move things that are going according to normal time (apathetic time) at our time (angelica time). Let's say you wanted to open a door over there. Because it is going so slow, you could tap it with one finger and it would start to shatter…only it would shatter in apathetic time; it would take a remarkably long time to us for it to break enough for us to go through. Emmett, however, can move anything out of his way at our speed, like he was living in apathetic time but in angelica time…Does that make any sense?" She asked.

"I think so. It would take three of their seconds, let's say, to open the door; but that would be almost, like, ten minutes for us? So Emmett can move that same door in three of our seconds?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around that possibility. She beamed a smile of praise.

"Exactly," She said, nodding vigorously.

"Then came me, and you know my power," She said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Wait, how did they get you, and the others before you, if they couldn't talk to you or them because they were living in apathetic time?" I asked. She smiled another approving smile.

"Good question. Well, you remember how we achieved angelica time?" She asked.

"We ran so fast that we outran time and all that other good stuff, right?" I confirmed and she nodded her head.

"Right; well, you didn't really need me to run that fast, did you? You simply had to run fast enough to break the apathetic barrier. You just didn't know that your muscles could go faster until you had to keep up with me," She explained, "The others and I loved and love to run, much like yourself, and did it when we were upset or scared. We found that we could run faster and welcomed the comforting speed with open arms; than we broke the apathetic barrier and into angelica time." She said.

"So, no offense, but why is your talent so important to this Carlisle?" I asked.

"Well, truth be told, it was severely confusing and frightening to watch everyone around you freeze and the color die away around you alone. We found ourselves wandering until Carlisle found us; it was no easy task on his part." She said with fervor, "Imagine how this experience would have been if you were alone." She said and I shivered, taking an involuntary step forward towards her. She laughed and continued, "The next to enter our little group was Rosalie. Rosalie has no known power beyond her speed but, really, how much more could she need? She is absolutely gorgeous and she and Emmett really hit it off." She explained.

"The next to enter our life was Esme, Carlisle's husband and Jasper's mother. It is a hard story to explain, but Carlisle seemed to vanish and she didn't know where; that is when he achieved angelica speed and couldn't go back. Than her son did, and met Carlisle again. She didn't know where they were. I tried to explain to her what happened to them when I returned to apathetic time numerously, but she thought I was some crazy T.V. hostess or something. For days of our time Carlisle would just stare at her, unsure of how to get her but longing to do so. Then she matured into an Agilest and felt the need to run. I ran with her once, and she felt the same competitive feeling you had for me. I pushed her to the limit and into angelica time. She then reunited with Carlisle and Jasper."

She led me through the window that led outside of this hellish looking coliseum and into some alleyway. I noticed that this alleyway should have been relatively dark due to the time of night and did not look like a good spot to hang out.

"How is it that we can see? It is supposed to be very dark, isn't it?" I asked Bella. She led the way, and I noticed how she still held my hand and also noticed how I felt no desire to let go… there were other desires though.

"Our eyes are enhanced, being an Agilest, due to the fact that everything should be blurring past our eyes at dizzying speeds, including light waves. Our eyes are different than normal because they need to take whatever light waves they can," She said, "It is actually-" she began, but was cut off by something she saw in front of her. I realized I was paying little attention to everything around me, just Bella, and decided to look around for once. I found what made her freeze in place and had me nearly running into her.

In front of us stood three figures, two were filthy middle-aged males and one was a female, about nineteen years of age. She was backed up against a wall and the other men were advancing on her, one of them held a knife and the other a broken beer bottle. Both of their backs were turned to us but we could see the girl's absolutely petrified face; it looked like she was building up a scream but it also looked like it would do no good. The scene before us looked like a picture; a still-framed portrait painted by the sickest of minds.

Bella let go of my hand and ran up to the men in between her and the girl. She karate-chopped both of the bases of their necks; going at our speed that was sure to kill them. I advanced on them as well and kicked the knife and beer bottle the other way as well; preventing them from flying towards the girl. Bella looked at the men who were operating too slowly to realize that they were doomed. She kicked her worn shoe in the dirt below us into letters, or what would be letters in mere milliseconds of their time, into the words "run, be safe"

Before we left we had the satisfaction of watching the scene change minimally. The two men were started to shift away from each other and their eyes started to roll to the back of their head; a sign that their nervous systems were failing. The girl's face started to straiten from her terrified expression to something else, but we couldn't see what it was.

Bella led us out of the alley, appeased by the fact that she was safe and those low lives would never again stalk a woman. She started to mumble a few intelligible things under her breath and I chuckled. She took a fleeting glance at me and the fire in her eyes shut me up immediately.

"What you did was very admirable," I said in a low voice after a moment's silence of us walking down the road, "You are, in a sense, a guardian angel." I said humorously. She laughed, than waved it off.

"I did what any other sane person would have; and you helped too." She said, but before I could object she added, "I am actually surprised that you are not the least bit curious as to where we are going."

"Nice change of subject," I said, rolling my eyes, "but, now that you mention it, where are we going?" I asked.

"We are going to the port hole." She answered; as if THAT helped me.

"Which is…?" I prompted.

"It is the way to get where Carlisle made so that everything around us, not just people, are moving at angelica speed." She explained. It took a second to absorb this.

"Oh, than how do we get there?" I asked.

"You'll see," She said somewhat deviously, I gulped, "We need to get ourselves out of these clothes." She added. I raised my eyebrows at her and she looked back at me, wondering why I had stopped walking.

"Not like that," She laughed, "These clothes are in a state of shock, if you will. They are not meant for angelica time and they will burn off if we are in them too long." I saw nothing bad in that scenario…

She led me to an old, run-down building and I thought for a second that we were looking for other men who were stalking other women; the setting was fitting enough. She led me inside and up a staircase that I was sure was going to snap under us.

"Is this safe?" I asked.

"It really doesn't matter. If it does bow or snap under our pressure, we will be long gone before it breaks. But these stairs probably have no weight on them unless you wait a long, long time. Remember that we are moving abnormally quick." She explained. It was exceedingly hard to forget how quick we were moving. Our footsteps made no noise, or anything around us for that matter, and the color was still pale or nonexistent around us.

We ascended the windowless, sullen, seemingly endless staircase until we got to the roof. We must be fifty to sixty stories up. I was surprised to find that the door that led to the outside was already broken back.

"Have you been here before?" I asked.

"This is one of the three ways to get into our zone." She said. I idly wondered where the other ones were as we stepped through the battered and abused doorway onto the roof.

I sensed that this should have been a somewhat nice view of the city, but the colors were so faded that it made the whole scene dull. I followed Bella to the end of the roof, and she started to get up onto the ledge. I grabbed her wrist, my protective instincts getting the better of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked skeptically. She got back off and looked over.

"This is the way," She said as if it were so obvious it hurt, "What we have to do is run down the side of the building and plunge through the floor." I froze, thinking that she belonged in some suicide institution.

"We have to do what?!" I asked in a slightly higher octave than normal. She took the hand that was on her wrist in both of hers.

"It is ok, I promise," She said in a soft tone, "At the speed that we are about to achieve, the floor will be in more pain than you, who will feel nothing at all." She assured me.

"We will literally plunge through the molecules of the ground and into our place. It is a complicated science and I can have Carlisle teach it to you if you are really that interested, but all you need to know is that it is as easy as entering through a door…but much more fun." She said in an excited tone. She took my hand and she pulled me up on the ledge again.

My breathing barely had time to accelerate as she leaned off the cliff, taking me with her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This story is going to kinda remind me of the Matrix… maybe. Sorta. Haha. Um, I don't own Twilight characters, but I make them do wackie stuff!**  
Chapter Three

Bella leaned off of the roof of the skyscraper and took me with her; the insanely beautiful and beautifully insane woman.

She started to run on the side of the building, so I started to as well despite the crippling fear I felt. Then she started to laugh, feeling some sort of exhilaration, and every fear just melted away. My body wanted to laugh with her as we flew towards the ground at death-defying speeds. I started to laugh, drawn in by her compelling laugh that wasn't hard to detect despite the rate at which we were going- which I would estimate about 150 mph.

Going at such a velocity, we didn't have much time before we met the floor. What an odd experience it was. A good comparison would be jumping off the high-dive into the thickest of liquids; like maple syrup on steroids. We seemed to seep into its surface and through the cracks, only the ground really didn't move.

After seconds of oozing through the pavement, we feel through onto a marble ground; well I fell down, she landed gracefully. I fell and did a sort of belly flop onto this new, stable floor; the splat from my fall ringing around the room. I muttered unintelligibly.

"Ow," I mumbled. I heard that angelic laugh and felt Bella's breath at my ear.

"Are you ok?" She said somewhat breathlessly, putting a hand on my lower back. My breathing sort of spiked and I spun, a little startled. Her face was close to me before, but her hand got caught behind me and she fell on top of me, her body pressing against me. Her knees went to support herself but did so by straddling my waist. Her breathing hiked too as she looked at me, not moving. I smiled and her pupils got slightly larger again.

"I am more than ok," I murmured, "now." Her cheeks blushed crimson and I couldn't stop myself from putting my hand on that delicious color, stoking it. She closed her eyes, leaned into my touch some and moaned, sending a spark run through my entire body. I so desperately wanted to pull her forward and was about to but her eyes flew open and she jumped off me swiftly. She extended her hand to me to help me get up, and I shook my head and got up.

"Sorry about that," She said sheepishly.

"Don't be," I whispered, effectively deepening her blush. She averted her eyes from my intense gaze and nearly made me attack her when she looked back up at me through her lashes with the most alluring smile.

"Not curious as to where we are?" She asked. I blinked, aware that she distracted me yet again. I looked around the room, doing a clumsy one-eighty of the area. The room wasn't that impressive at all. Marble lined every inch of the walls and chess-board style floors where they weren't chipped or cracked. The fluorescent lighting made everything sharper. The only objects in the room were a coffee table with and three faded blue wing-backed chairs around it. The chairs were worn and old, but inviting nevertheless.

The red roses in the vase on the coffee table made me freeze.

"Color?" I asked, immensely grateful for the object. She sighed an almost longing sigh.

"Yes, color; thank God that Carlisle was able to make a sort of fourth dimension for us, or else we would never get good color in angelica time." She said. She looked at her clock and at the only door in the room.

"He should be here soon, would you like a seat?" She asked.

"What a gracious hostess," I complimented humorously. She rolled her eyes and sat down on one of the chairs, crossing her luxurious legs. Snap out of it! You have only known her for, like, hours. I sat down to the chair next to her and waited.

"Not to be rude, but where is he?" I asked tentatively.

"Probably submerged in some research or with Esme," She said. Her voice echoed off of the walls in the following silence.

"So, the articles we saw about you never mentioned family," She said, leaning her elbows on her knees. I stiffened as she said, "Not to be rude, but will much of anyone miss you besides your adoring fans?"

"My parents both died a while back," I answered, "I have no siblings and neither did they. My grandparents basically want nothing to do with me, just my fame." I explained, her angelic face grew sad.

"I am so sorry, but you are with people who will miss you now if you leave," She said as a consolation.

"Hmm, on the one hand I have my non-existent family; on the other I have my attractive tour guide of the fourth dimension…" I pursed my lips, pondering the ridiculously wonderful situation I found myself in. I then realized the reason why it was so good, and that was Bella. Something about her just set my interior aflame. I felt like I had known her for a lifetime or two, not an hour or two.

She laughed at my humor, "Well I am glad you enjoy the trade off. Don't you dare think of leaving." She said sternly. I rolled my eyes; as if the force she had over me would ever allow me to leave. The mere thought of never seeing her again hurt. I suppose that when you are met with certain circumstances with one certain person, it's acceptable to feel a need for them.

"Where on earth would I go without you?" I asked.

"You make it sound like I am the air to your lungs," She said smiling.

"You are; the air to my lungs, the strength to my muscles, the-" I cut off, realizing that I leaned towards her as I said this and that my voice was low, husky, and intense. Way to be casual, Mason.

I immediately sat upright and murmured an apology, not meeting her eyes.

"Don't be," She mimicked my words from before and my low and intense tone. I met her eyes as she said this and, again, was nearly thrown out of my chair at her with the amount of feeling in her voice. The overwhelming urge to feel her face again, feel her hand on my back again, her legs around my waist again, feel her lips on mine… Ah! Snap…out…of…it…

I held her intense gaze and she seemed to unconsciously move towards me as we stared, brown orbs into green. I found myself drawing near her too as the door opened and I nearly fell off of the front of my chair in shock.

My head whipped to the door that was opposite the room to me and behind my chair. Her head turned to the door, too, which made her face all that much closer to mine.

The man that strode in was about my height, if not less than inches shorter. He had neatly combed blond hair and almost caramel eyes. He had very pale, angular features, yet a kind face and poise. He walked into the room with the most comforting of smiles. His footsteps rang across the room and he sat in the chair opposite the Bella and me. He shot Bella a look that I couldn't quite place; maybe it was pride? She blushed some and this confused me further; I would have to ask her later.

"Hello, Mr. Mason. My name is Carlisle, as I am sure you know," He began cordially.

"Nice to meet you, but please, call me Edward," I said. He smiled and nodded.

"Now, I am sure Bella has tried to fill you in on the details in the past two or so hours," Carlisle began, giving her that proud smile again, "but do you have any more questions?" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; oh, only a billion or two.

"Um, I think at this point I should just see for myself?" I said, my tone making it more like a question as I looked sideways at Bella. They both smiled at me and I was beginning to feel like some long lost puppy.

"Sure, would you like to meet the rest of your peers?" Carlisle asked.

"We prefer your new best friends," came a booming voice at the door. I turned and saw a bear incarnate. He had a huge smile to match the rest of his large features. The man was a truck. I looked back at Carlisle and he shot a stern look at the bear.

"I told you to wait until he adjusted," Carlisle scolded.

"Puh-leeeease, Carlisle! The man is not going to get used to this place for, like, a WEEK. Do you want us to wait that long?" Emmett said, eyebrows raised, "I think we should go for shock and awe!" he exclaimed, holding his hands out like he was trying to scare someone. I chuckled as Bella smacked her forehead and Carlisle sighed.

"Well," Carlisle said in a voice that was like 'too late now', "This is Emmett; Emmett, this is Edward."

Emmett rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Always so polite,"

I got up and walked across the room and offered my hand. Emmett took it and shook it violently, "Nice to meetcha, bro." I resisted the urge to wince as I said, "Pleasure's all mine."

He let go of my hand like he saw me sprout another hand, "Oh no, you aren't as polite as Carlisle, are you?" I didn't know how to respond to that exactly, so I went with, "Is that a problem?"

He pursed his lips, "I guess not, we'll man you up over time, I suppose." He said jokingly. Bella came up to me and raised an eyebrow at Emmett fearlessly, "Is Carlisle not manly enough for you?" She challenged. Emmett began to open and close his mouth at a loss for words, but Carlisle cut in with,

"Okay, okay, everyone; the others want to meet Edward," I tried to look past Emmett's hulking form, but it was in vain. Emmett laughed and stepped aside, pushing my shoulder forward. Bella smiled and took my hand and led me through to the next room.

The next room turned out to be a hallway about ten yards in length. There were maybe four or five doors on either side, and one double-door entrance on the other side.

"These are our rooms," Bella said conversationally, "On the left is Emmett's, Rosalie's, Jasper's, and Carlisle and Esme, and on the right are two empty rooms, mine, and yours." She led us past these doors and through the double-doors.

The room before me was nothing like the starting room. The walls were paneled a deep, mahogany wood that match the hardwood floors. The floor had elaborate rugs sporadically yet tactfully placed throughout the room. The room itself was very large, probably thirty yards by fifty. There was a fireplace to the left side of the room and the mantle was an intricate marble. The sofa across from the fire looked extremely comforting. There was a table that ran the length of the back of the sofa that had pictures along it. Note to self: look for pictures of Bella.

On the right side of the room was a bar-like area. There were five wooden bar stools lined by a paneled bar with a marble top that connected in a U shape around to a counter on the right wall. On the far side of the room had yet another elegant sofa that faced a television and a bookshelf that lined the five yards in between the television and the wall. On the other side of the television was yet another door. It was a roomy, comforting and inviting room.

"Not to be rude, but why didn't you make the other room as comfortable as this one is?" I asked, remembering my earlier splat.

"That would be my fault," said a pleasant female voice that came from the door to the right of the TV. The owner of the voice was an equally pleasant-looking woman. She had caramel hair that matched Carlisle's eyes, but had deeper brown eyes herself. She was less angular than the others and resembled Bella by her loving smile.

"I can never figure out how I want it to look. I am sorry that I didn't put a softer floor there, though," She said, smiling apologetically.

"It is of little matter, no need to apologize," I said warmly, matching her tone. She crossed the room gracefully and extended her hand. I took it with the hand that wasn't holding Bella's gently and smiled.

"My name is Esme; I am Carlisle's wife and Jasper's mother," She said.

"I am pretty sure you all know my name, but it is Edward nevertheless," I said jokingly.

"Where are the others?" Bella asked, looking around for them. It was amazing to sense the change in atmosphere. Carlisle sighed, Emmett shifted from foot to foot uneasily and Esme looked down remorsefully.

"Rosalie is trying to get Jasper to leave Ali-" Esme whispered but cut off, replacing it with, "To come here." Bella's face turned from one of confusion to sadness; I would have to ask her to fill me in soon.

"Would you like something to eat while we wait?" Esme asked me, obviously wanting to change the subject of whatever made the room stiff and be a good hostess. I looked around, unsure, and caught Bella's reassuring smile. I shrugged, "Yes, please."

I needn't say anything more. Esme whirled out of the room she came from and flitted back seconds later with a tray full of food. Carlisle chuckled, "You already had something prepared, didn't you?" He accused.

"Nothing wrong with being prepared," Esme sniffed. Emmett sucked in air through his nose greedily.

"I made enough for everyone, Emmett," Esme said laughing. Emmett strolled out of the room to get whatever it was that she made.

"I made you beef stroganoff, I hope that's ok," Esme said, looking abruptly worried. I laughed, "That was very thoughtful, thank you." Bella got two of the bowls and handed one to me. We both sat at the cozy bar and started to eat. Carlisle and Esme went through the doors that Emmett did.

"That's the kitchen that is adjacent to the dining room; just so you know," Bella said, looking at my confused expression. I nodded my head in understanding, than I remembered a question I wanted to ask her.

"What is it about Jasper that made everyone so stiff in here?" I asked tentatively. She looked immediately crestfallen and I wanted to smack myself for causing her pain.

"Well, you know what I said about how Carlisle just sort of stared at Esme before she became an Agilest?" She asked and I nodded my head again, "Well, it is a bit more complicated than that. He didn't eat, sleep, drink, speak, or anything. He just sat there and looked at Esme slowly move through apathetic time," She said in a sad tone, "Then Esme became an Agilest and he just came back to life… Well, Jasper was the one who had to have the leader-ish hat on when Carlisle was…occupied. He was on a mission to look for other up-and-coming Agilests when he saw her." She said. I realized I was nearly on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

"He met Alice. She was just like any other girl to us, wondering through the mall; but he said that she was an angel trapped in that time frame," She continued, "He said he felt drawn to her and the force of her magnetism was so strong he couldn't go away. I tried to talk to her to see if she was an Agilest, but she reacted much of the way Esme did. She does have promise for maturing into an Agilest, but she was not born an Agilest. So now he spends his days standing still, trying to get her to see him so that she may understand me when I say that there is such thing as Agilests." She finished and I already pitied this poor Jasper person. If I was stuck like this and saw Bella than I probably would be acting the same way…even though I would not admit that to her right now because it would probably freak her out.

"So how long were you guys watching me before I 'matured'?" I asked. She blushed some and this immediately sparked my interest; how was that question embarrassing?

"Well, for one thing, you were born Agilest, and that makes you a little bit faster than a matured Agilest. I was born this way, too." She said, and I noticed how she was changing the subject.

"That's nice to know, but you didn't really answer my original question." I pointed out. Her blush deepened and I had the immense desire to stroke it again. At that moment Emmett walked into the room with a mountain of something on his plate, and I surmised that it was the beef stroganoff.

"What is Bella not answering and has her as red as a tomato?" He asked while sitting down on Bella's right, me on her left.

"Emmett," She said through clenched teeth and he laughed.

"Um, I asked her how long you guys had tabs on me before I achieved angelica time and she turned a lovely shade of pink," I murmured the last part. Emmett laughed a booming laugh.

"Oh, now I see," He said, nodding with a knowing look, "Well, truth be told, we barely looked at you at all."

That was sort of a blow to the gut. Maybe they found me disinteresting; is that embarrassing for Bella, or was she just embarrassed vicariously through me?

"Before you look to crestfallen, you MIGHT want to know that when I say 'we', I mean me, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Jasper." He clarified…but that left only one person…

"Bella looked at you…" Emmett started.

"Emmett," Bella warned.

"She looked at you a lot!" Emmett continued.

"Emmett!" Bella hissed.

"Almost six hours everyday!" He continued again.

"Em-mett!" Bella moaned.

"She would look at you both in apathetic time and in angelica time," Emmett continued. I was highly amused at this point.

"Did you like what you saw?" I asked jokingly at Bella. Emmett laughed and Bella nearly slammed her head on the bar.

"Emmett you have a total of three seconds to split or I WILL tell Rose some things you would rather her not know," She threatened in a deadly voice with her head still down.

"That's my cue," Emmett said in a hurried tone while taking Mount Beef Stroganoff with him out of the room. The silence was cut off by Bella's sigh.

"Don't be embarrassed," I said soothingly in her ear, "if I had the advantage you did I definitely would have been near you more than six hours." In a strange way, I LIKED the fact that she wanted to look at me so much…I suppose it made all of the attached thoughts in MY head justifiable if she felt them too.

She slowly turned her head to me and met my eyes. Her chocolaty eyes drew me closer; my own eyes wanting a better look. My gaze at her eyes was only broken when her eyes flickered to my lips once quickly and a second time longer than the first glance. I, too, found myself drawing closer still and taking fleeting looks at her full, gorgeous lips. Her breathing hiked as I leaned my left arm on the bar and my right arm on the left arm of her bar stool. Her hands slowly found their way to my knees as she closed in on my face.

We nearly blew apart…AGAIN…when we heard muted hurried voices and two sets of feet padding up the hallway and towards the double-door entrance to the room. Carlisle glided into the room with Esme at his flank.

"They're here," He said in a calm voice. Two blond people came through the doors and I instantly saw the relationship between Jasper and his parents. He was about three or four inches taller than Carlisle, but had his color hair and Esme's eyes. He had pale skin, just like his parents as well.

The blond woman next to him was what Sports Illustrated or Playboy would have killed for. She had long, wavy, gold hair and dark blue, fierce looking eyes. Her full lips and other womanly attributes suggested her to be sleazy, but she carried and clothed herself in a way that told me otherwise. She had an almost supporting hand on the slightly irritated-looking boy next to her. I surmised this was Rosalie and Jasper.

"I'm fine, Rosalie," Jasper hissed over his shoulder and Rosalie dropped her arm instantly. Jasper's eyes searched the room and rested on mine. He crossed the room in few easy steps and extended his hands.

"I am sure you know my name and am sure you know mine, but I am Jasper." I took his hand and smiled.

"It's a pleasure; this is where I say 'I am Edward'." I said. Jasper smiled back and looked at Bella with raised eyebrows.

"I see what you were so caught up about," He told her, "'It's simply research' you told me; yeah, right." Bella blushed further.

"Did she see you, Jazz?" Bella asked softly. Jaspers' eyes lit up and darkened at the same time.

"She did see me, after a really long time… She sort of looked scared, than awed…I think." He said thoughtfully, "Would you mind talking to her again, Bella? I think she has matured." He pleaded. Bella looked at everyone in the room than at me.

"Do you want to witness the maturing of an Agilest?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Everyone looked at me expectantly; like I was going to say no!

"Um, sure; let's go?" I suggested, unsure exactly where we were going.

"Okay. Jazzy, where is she?" Bella asked. Jasper took her hand and she took mine as Jasper led us out the room and through the hallway. Jasper looked like a kid at Christmas when he replied, "She is at the library right now, looking up books on angels. Angels! She thought I was an angel!" He was exceptionally ecstatic. Bella chuckled.

"So what exactly happened?" I asked. Jasper explained hurriedly, "I stood motionless in front of Alice for about ten minutes; long enough for her to make out my features and see me clearly." We arrived at the room we got in and I was extremely confused.

"Are we going to squeeze through the roof this time?" I asked, bewildered. Everyone got into the somewhat small space and Carlisle shut the door.

"Going up!" He said as the lights went out and the floor started to shift upwards. It looked like that was exactly what we were going to do. Bella's hold on my hand tightened as we met the ceiling- only the ceiling held no resistance at all. It was like being pushed through gelatin…only you could breathe the gelatin. I supposed it was the closest thing to breathing liquid oxygen as I would ever want to get.

I can now empathize with the contents of a pimple that are squeezed out… it is an odd experience.

We landed at the foot of the run-down building on the street you had to run into to enter the angelica time zone. I forgot that the colors were leeched from the world and it was a bit of a shock. Jasper led the way down the street, Emmett beside him, Rosalie beside him, and Carlisle in Esme in front of us.

"So how does Jasper know that this Alice is going to be an Agilest?" I asked Bella.

"There are a few tell-tale signs. The largest one is how bright their colors are. Right now you can see the colors in my eyes, on my skin, in my hair, et cetera," She said. I most certainly could see her colors, and was momentarily side-tracked by taking a closer look at her, "Well, everyone else who is not an Agilest has dull color, right? Well, a maturing Agilest's color will appear of better quality than those around them; this is their body's way of preparing themselves to move faster. Again, Carlisle could tell you the exact science, but it really is not that important for the everyday knowledge. When I go into apathetic time to talk to her, my color will dull as well, but it will be much better than those around me."

I forgot that she was going to be going into their time and reveled in the fact that I was going to learn more about her.

"Another good sign is how responsive they are to those around them," She went on, "Or how fast hey can react, rather, to an Agilest in the room. Alice was able to detect Jasper in only ten minutes. The non-Agilests, or Apathies, would take up to twenty to thirty minutes to detect us." I tried to catch all of their lingo in my head, they used it so commonly and, I suppose, forgot to tell me directly sometimes. I guessed that it was like teaching a child to drink when you never had a child; you expect it to know how.

"So was Alice always an Agilest, or born an Apathy into an Agilest?" I asked.

"Alice matured into being an Agilest, thank God," she muttered, "If she didn't soon I was going to have to tell Jasper to find another Agilest that won't rip his heart out without knowing it." She mumbled. I could tell she felt a sisterly protection for him.

We arrived at a fairly large library in about three minutes' time. The library was very large and had about two dozen marble steps that led to an enormous double-door entrance. We scaled the steps two at a time.

"Be careful of the people, Edward," Emmett said over his shoulder, "They are very fragile; one nudge on the shoulder could dislocate their arm." I was immediately more aware of the situation, giving wide birth to anybody lingering on the steps. We arrived inside and I marveled at the huge dome ceiling that was approximately thirty stories high and very intricately done. The windows along the wall were long and narrow, but lit the long room nicely.

"Where is she, Jasper?" Esme almost breathed. I realized that many people were probably praying that Alice was an Agilest because of Jasper's attachment to her. I wholeheartedly prayed that she returned his sentiments; although, given these circumstances, I would not be surprised if she felt a need for him. I felt a need for Bella, right?

Jasper set out into a full out sprint towards the reference section and stopped dead, looking into isle twenty. We all peered in and saw a very attractive, petite girl crouched on the ground, reading a book fiercely. Nobody else was with her but she appeared to be talking; maybe reading aloud. The scene still resembled a still-life portrait.

Jasper wheeled on Bella, "Go on, now, work your magic!" He insisted.

"Jazzy, you know that it might take almost an apathetic hour, right?" Bella said wearily, "It could take an angelica half a day." I was crestfallen that I was going to have to be away from her that long and wished with all of my being that I could go with her.

"Ok, ok, ok. Just do it!" He said impatiently; this was going to be a fun wait.

"How do you slow down, Bella?" I asked.

"I don't really know how to explain it. I just close my eyes, and count really slow, and take deep breaths, and poof! I leave angelica time." She explained, "Maybe you should try to see if you can do it."

I shrugged; why not try? She still had my hand so we both closed our eyes, and I tried to think as slow as I could while I took deep, long breaths. There was a slight rustling of papers and there were bursts of sound everywhere. I wanted to open my eyes but an instinct I didn't know I had told me to keep them closed. I felt the gust of an AC and the soft hum of an elevator nearby.

"Wow, you did it," Bella breathed. I opened my eyes a bit and was overwhelmed by the color around the room. I looked at Bella wide-eyed.

"I can't believe you even knew to keep your eyes closed…I should have told you, sorry." She said apologetically, "but prepare to be a test dummy of Carlisle's. He is going to want to learn all he can of you."

I looked around and saw that the others were not there (or not VISABLE) and Alice was looking at us wide-eyed.

"Are….you…where…how…did…?" She said incoherently.

"Crap, we should have appeared somewhere else." Bella muttered to herself, than smiled the warmest smile I have ever seen at Alice.

"Can you trust us to talk to you?" She asked kindly. Alice drew towards her, nodding vigorously.

"Before you jump to conclusions; we aren't angels." I said lightheartedly. She shoved the book behind her and whispered, "Do you know who that blond boy with deep brown eyes was before?"

We nodded and she practically flew across the isle towards us.

"Who was he? Who is he? Where can I find him?" She blasted in a soprano voice. Her wild green eyes popped and accentuated her wild black spiked hair.

"His name IS Jasper Cullen, and he wants to meet you," Bella introduced. Alice looked around wildly, "Where is he?" She asked.

"He is in another time zone." Bella answered.

"Oh, like in Tokyo or something? Tell me! I will go anywhere," Alice said.

"You will have to go somewhere, but you are also going to have to believe us about who you are, who we are, and who Jasper is." Bella explained and Alice looked confused.

"You are an Agilest, Alice Brandon." Bella explained and Alice's eyes got the size of dinner plates. She started to back away but seemed like she couldn't get any farther than a few inches.

"How do you know my name?" She breathed.

"We know more than your name, but, for relationship sake, my name is Bella and this is Edward." She said and I smiled.

"Listen to what she says," I advised, "as crazy as it may sound, it is true."

"Do you want to run?" Bella asked out of the blue.

"I don't want to run away from you guys…" Alice said in a small voice, "If that is what you are saying."

Bella shook her head impatiently, "Run WITH us, trust us." She said and she almost had a crazy spark in those insanely gorgeous eyes of hers. Alice nodded curtly, "Ok."

We all ran out of the library, ignoring the elderly woman behind the desk who was telling us to slow down. My muscles felt the same amount of release they felt when I ran and we all picked up speed, little Alice seeming to have no trouble. Bella laughed that care-free, deliciously contagious laugh of hers and soon we were all joining in, weaving in and out of traffic and hitting blinding speeds. Alice was not winded at all and I was aware that we were about to reach angelica time soon; it was only a matter of time.

We sprinted headlong down a long alleyway that led to a park, but we reached apathetic time before we reached the park.

Bella and I stopped as Alice breezed about ten yards into the park than stopped dead in her tracks as she realized that something was terribly wrong. Jasper stood right behind her and Alice turned around and looked at him like a person who saw water after years of drought. She smiled at him and I could make out her saying, "You kept me waiting a long time."

"Yes ma'm," Jasper answered, a smile in his voice. They didn't even kiss, but I felt like I was intruding on the most private of scenes. Bella took my hand and whispered, "I think it would be a good time to go back to the angelica time zone…he'll thank me later."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Again, Carlisle?!" I sighed, exasperated. Carlisle waited patiently. We had been at it for hours. Bella wasn't kidding when she said that I was going to be a test subject for Carlisle. I looked around the lab style room that was adjacent to his room. The lighting reminded me of the first room in the angelica time zone with its violent lighting. There were beakers and flasks filled with God knows what in the glass cabinets around us. I was in a dentist-style chair and half expected Carlisle to lean the chair back and do surgery.

I shifted uneasily at this thought and rather distinct possibility as Carlisle sat there, waiting for me to go back to apathetic time again. I wanted to see Bella, who was helping Alice ease her way into being an Agilest, but I had to do this first.

"Don't forget to try to return to angelica time without running this time; try to reverse the process you and Bella do." He reminded me. I sighed again.

I relaxed every muscle, closed my eyes, thought slow thoughts and took deep breaths. I heard the familiar rustling of papers and popping sounds. I kept my eyes shut until I thought it safe. I opened my eyes and, because Carlisle made tweaks to this room so that it would look normal under both angelica and apathetic times, it looked the same. The only difference is that I was alone, but I knew I wasn't. Carlisle was probably watching my every move.

I thought about what I had to do that would return me back to angelica time. I kept my eyes open, breathed shallow breaths, tightened every muscle I had, and let my thoughts run wild with the first thing I thought of- Bella. The room started to spin slightly around me and I got dizzy and light-headed. There was one loud pop and than everything went black.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The dreams I had were extremely pleasant ones, to say the least. I had let my mind run wild with Bella and it got out of control. I dreamt what would have happened had Jasper and Rosalie taken an hour longer to arrive for our introduction rather than minutes; not interrupting what was about to happen between Bella and me.

I sighed and rolled over, not really aware of my surroundings but not caring either; just determined to go back to that wonderful dream.

"Edward," an angel called me. _Yes?_ I wanted to say, _Yes, I am on my way back to you._

"Edward," the angel laughed a gorgeous laugh. Someone nudged my shoulder and I mumbled something incoherent. Something deliciously soft and warm pressed against my cheek and my eyes started to flutter open. Bella kissed my cheek and was kneeling by me towards the foot of the very comfortable bed I was on.

"Hello," She said smiling. A simple hello didn't seem like enough, but it would have to do for now.

"Hello," I said, starting to get up, but Bella moved closer and put her hands on my shoulders, pushing me back down. Hey, that was how my dreams started… I shook off the dirty thoughts that threatened to make themselves known and gave a questioning glance to Bella.

"You had better take it easy," She said, "You took a rather nasty spill there."

"What happened and where am I?" I asked her.

"You managed to get back to angelica time without running, but it took a lot out of you. You took about one angelica hour to recover," She said, "right now you are in your room. I wanted to show it to you without you being unconscious first, but here you are." She finished, motioning with a hand around the room.

The room was rectangular in shape and had walls that were about twenty by fifteen feet and had an interesting green color on the wall that was trimmed with wooden floorboards and trim on the ceiling. The ceiling was pure white and smooth. The floor was a hardwood but had a very appealing crimson rug on it. There was little furniture in the room besides the queen sized bed that I was on and Bella was kneeling on. The comforter was pure white and had two huge white pillows on it.

"What do the doors lead to?" I asked, noticing there were two.

"That one," She said, motioning to the one on my left, "Leads to the hallway, and that one," on the other side of the room, "leads to your bathroom. It has a Jacuzzi tub, a pretty nice shower, a sink and a vanity. It's about one half the size of this room." I supposed she was explaining it to me in such detail because she wasn't going to let me see it for myself at this time.

"Oh, and I told Carlisle to lay off for a while; he tends to overdo things most of the time," She said rolling her eyes.

"Thank you for being my guardian angel," I said jokingly. She laughed that laugh that drove me insane, but cut off when she saw my stare.

"What is it?" She asked insecurely.

"You have the most memorizing laugh; not to mention your eyes," I murmured. She blushed at my voiced thoughts, "and that blush," I groaned, shrugging up on my elbow to hold me up as I stroked her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into my hand. She opened her eyes and looked at me.

"You really should lie down," She whispered, looking at the bed. I took her shoulders and spun her around and fell back onto the bed with her in my arms. She let out a surprised yelp and than started to laugh.

"So your sentence to bed rest vicariously affects me, too?" She asked laughing. I pulled her closer and whispered, "Most definitely; what other excuse would I have to hold you?" Her breathing became erratic as she struggled to turn around in my arms, facing me. Her face was mere inches from mine as she breathed, "You don't need an excuse."

I growled in frustration when she pulled away from me when she heard a knock at the door. Is it against some Agilest law to be alone with Bella or something?

"Come in," Bella said in a kind voice that I was not capable of using right now. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett poured into my room; perfect. They looked at me in wonder; even more perfect.

"Hello everyone, to what do we owe the pleasure?" I asked in a somewhat stiff tone but managed to get a smile on my face nevertheless. Emmett snorted in the doorway; probably seeing through my façade.

"Oh, we just wanted to see how you were coping, Edward," Rosalie said, "Carlisle told us what you did and wanted to make sure you were ok."

"How are you feeling?" Esme asked in a fretting-motherly tone that made me feel instantly guilty that I was mad at them.

"I am fine, I assure you," I answered politely, and somewhat gratefully. I grew up around people who didn't care if I lived or died, so long as I ran professionally.

"Well, than," Rosalie said hurriedly, sensing that they interrupted something and looking in between Bella and me, "We should probably let you rest and let you feel a little less like something to be looked at…" She said, looking pointedly at everyone and at the door. The others caught onto her intentions and filed out.

"Aren't you coming too, Bella?" Emmett called from the hallway. Bella was about to respond when we heard a loud smacking noise and Rosalie scolding Emmett.

"Ow," He muttered and closed the door behind him. Bella laughed a soft laugh and I chuckled.

"So…I have a question," Bella asked. I looked at her expectantly while she phrased it.

"Well, when I was doing…surveillance…on you, you didn't really seem like you liked people that much… You were always very polite looking, but there was an undertone of impatience in how you interacted with them. Will anyone…miss you? Or will you miss anyone?" She asked tentatively.

"I won't miss anyone. The only people I would miss are you all if I left," I told her. She brightened up.

"Good," She breathed a relieved sigh, "I want you to be happy."

"I am happy," I said, "now." She lit up like a light at this.

"So what's your story?" I asked her, "Where did you come from and when did you mature?"

"Well, I am an only child of Charlie and Renee Swan. They divorced and Renee remarried to some minor league baseball player, Phil. They are currently touring the country. Charlie remarried to Sue Clearwater, who is a widow and has two children from her first marriage," She said as if she was reading from a book; there was no emotion. I tried to pick apart her reaction to her parents' remarriage, but I came up with zilch.

"Not wanting to interfere with their new marriages, what with Charlie having new kids and Renee touring the country, I went away to college. It started out with me writing them both once a month. I never went home for the holidays; I just studied and wrote them once a month. They got back to me maybe four times out of the twelve a year," She said, again with no feeling. I surmised that she had long since gotten over this and admired her even more for her maturity.

"So, it came to a point where I only replied to their replies; not starting any new letters, just answering their questions and commenting on their circumstances," She said nonchalantly, "Unfortunately, Renee moved and didn't tell me her new address, and I couldn't get a hold of her because she left nearly no trace. I often wonder if she didn't want me to find her. Charlie got less and less animated in his writing as well, and started to only write once a year," She said, "Well, I ran out of years of college and got my own place. It was a modest townhouse on some busy street in Manhattan. I made sure not to pull a Renee and told Charlie my new address, but he never wrote me there." I felt awful for bringing this up, but it seemed to not hurt her at all; like she was retelling some story from a third person's point of view.

"Then came the letter; Charlie said he was going to visit me," She said with a serene smile, "I prepared the whole house and got enough food for a squadron of infantry. I had everything preparing; I had a turkey in the oven, vegetables on the stove, and mashed potatoes in the microwave. I was prepared to sit and read, but I had the overwhelming urge to run..." She whispered. I had a feeling I knew where this was going and inched closer.

"Well, it was my time to mature into what I was…what I am," She said, looking down, "I ran so fast," She whispered, "I broke through the angelica barrier after about twenty blocks in ten second's time…" She said, "I started to run back to my house and saw the color weaken and thought that I was in some horror movie. I looked around and saw the horror-stricken faces of those that I passed before I broke the barrier; much like the way the people in the stadium looked." She said and I recalled the scary women and wondered how I would have reacted if I had been alone…like Bella was. I shifted unconsciously closer to Bella.

"I ran into a few people who didn't budge to my shock…they probably died…" She whispered and I saw tears well in her eyes, "So, I tried to get back into my house but couldn't for some reason. I beat at the door as hard as I could but it wouldn't budge. There was no movement or sound anywhere near me. I waited on the steps, waiting for something to make sense. I noticed that people were, in fact, moving, just very slowly. It was than that I noticed Charlie was parked on the street a few yards away and was walking towards the house…very slowly. I got up and looked back to the house. The door had cracked back enough for me to get through at this point. I remembered that the turkey was still in the oven and got through the room. Smoke was pooling around the stove and I tried to turn it off, but I was moving so fast at this point that I momentarily could move things as fast as Emmett. I broke the stove and it started to combust very slowly for my speed but I am sure it was a pretty huge explosion. The gas line broke and I watched as the kitchen was filled with the gas and the explosion from the stove overtook the building. I got out on time and watched as the people slowly registered a house was going to explode. All they saw from what I gather is that girl ran out of the building, than a few seconds passed and the door burst inwards at blinding speeds, than the building spontaneously combusted. I watched as Charlie looked up and shielded his face from the explosion and slowly register that his daughter was in that building." She finished quietly.

"Oh my gosh, Bella," I whispered, "I am so sorry." I said as I kneeled on the bed and engulfed her in my arms. She leaned into me and I moved us so that she was sitting on my lap. After a few minutes of silence, she said, "Don't be sorry, I am glad you know," as she pulled herself closer to me. I was extremely content to just stay there, with her in my arms.

We stayed there for an immeasurable amount of time, not speaking. I was about to ask Bella something but I realized she fell asleep in my arms, so I simply laid down and put us both under the covers and fell asleep with an angel in my arms.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

I love dreams, even if they leave you longing for them to be real. I awoke from my best dream involving Bella yet, but didn't want to leave it so I kept my eyes shut and tightened my arms…which were empty. My eyes opened and searched for Bella in vain.

"Bella?" I called into the silence. I got up and got ready quickly.

I stepped out into the hallway and heard the sound of some people seemingly wrestling in the first room. I opened the already ajar doors further and saw Jasper and Emmett restraining some grungy-looking man from something. I got further in the room and saw that he was trying to attack an unconscious Bella. Something snapped in me and I flew in between him and Bella just as he got free of Emmett and Jasper. He lunged at Bella but was cut off mid-leap as I t-boned him midair and tackled him to the ground. He was shocked for a minute and that is all I needed as I took his arm and twisted it around his back. He started to struggle as I knelt on his back and forced his arm upwards, effectively dislocating it. His howls of pain reverberated off of the marble walls, but I ignored them.

"Are we ready to play nice now?" I hissed fiercely as he continued to thrash about, "Or should I snap the other?"Jasper and Emmett contained him easier this time and I got of him and stood between him and Bella. When I was sure that Emmett and Jasper had the vermin contained, I knelt by Bella and picked her up, checking for physical wounds.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded. As Jasper took his injured shoulder and Emmett took the other and they hauled him upwards. The fight seemed to seep out of him because of his injured arm, but his eyes were full of cold hatred when they weren't wincing in pain. His hatred was nothing compared to the sheer fury that rolled off me in almost tangible waves.

Rosalie rushed into the room with Carlisle, Esme, and Alice. Esme and Alice gasped. Emmett explained.

"This piece of crap found his way here and was looking for something; we don't know what, Bella was the only one to find him and he incapacitated her and was about to kidnap her before Jasper saw him and called me to help," He said.

"I was looking for the girl, you idiots," It hissed. If Bella wasn't in my arms I would have crossed the room and killed the thing.

"Carlisle, please attain to Bella," I said in a calm voice that was the exact opposite of how I felt at the moment.

"This way, Edward," Carlisle said in an equally calm voice, probably sensing that if I let go of Bella that I would commit murder. I continued to glower at the parasite before me as he looked at me with a taunting smile.

"Bella needs you, Edward," Alice said quietly, striking the only nerve that would stop me from killing this worthless being. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it felt like Alice was my sister in that moment. It felt like we were lifelong friends and she was giving me valuable advice. I nodded curtly in her direction, never breaking eye contact with the flea, and left the room. I was careful to support Bella as I stepped into Carlisle's room and into the lab, which I assumed doubled as a doctor's office.

I didn't bother to put Bella down, using her as an excuse not to kill that monstrosity in the next room. Carlisle seemed to catch this as he tended to Bella in my arms. Esme, Rosalie, and Alice came into the room rather silently.

"Emmett and Jasper are questioning James…" Esme told Carlisle quietly. Ah, so the eyesore had a name. His greasy figures flitted into my mind: his long, blond ponytail; his black, beady eyes, his taunting, enraging smile…worst of all; his intentions.

"What does it want with Bella?" I asked stiffly, unconsciously holding Bella closer.

"We don't know yet," Alice said. I went to put Bella down on the chair; I couldn't take this anymore. I needed answers so that I could protect Bella. She would be safe enough with Carlisle for now while I go get information from that…

Alice flitted in front of me and put a hand on my chest.

"Don't do anything crazy, Edward," She warned; and again it felt as though I had known her for a lifetime instead of minutes. It felt like we could read each other's mind and she could sense what I was about to do; trippy.

"I never do, Alice," I replied calmly as I set Bella down with caution, made sure she was ok, and left the room in long strides. I don't know how I knew, but I knew that they didn't move him from the first room. I went into the room and the first thing I did was brush past Emmett and Jasper and deliver a swift punch to James' gut. He let out a wheezing sound and I looked at him with distaste as I took a few steps back from him. Emmett put a hand on my shoulder, "Easy there, Edward," he warned.

James started to laugh, "Well, thank you for joining the party."

It was then I noticed that James was bound to a chair in the middle of the room and the room was empty, giving it an even colder air to the room. His laughter reverberated off the walls and I very nearly took out his kidneys again.

"How's the shoulder?" I snarled.

"Better, thanks. These gentlemen were kind enough to set it back," James said with mock politeness.

"What a pity," I said, "What do you want with Bella?" I demanded. He looked puzzled, "Bella?"

Then his face straitened with realization, "Oh, you mean that fine piece of ass that I was going to take off of your hands?" He asked with a dark chuckle; I saw red. I took a step forward, but Emmett and Jasper put a hand on either shoulder and pulled me back with such force that I was nearly knocked over. Jasper stood in front of me and whispered, "You should go, Edward; we will deal with that thing," in my ear. His tone of voice and almost presence calmed me somehow. I walked out of the room, or staggered out of the room, and went back to Carlisle's room, where I waited for Bella to wake up and tried in vain to calm myself.

**A/N: And so the plot thickens! Review to tell me if I lost you or if you like it! Thanks! **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"What is wrong with her, exactly?" I asked Carlisle after about ten minutes to Carlisle checking her vitals. I had been previously wondering how she had managed to get up without my noticing and why she hadn't awoken me if she suspected an intruder… if she did suspect an intruder…

"It is hard to say exactly, but she was definitely injected with some drug on her upper left arm," He said, indicating to a small hole on her bicep. I inhaled sharply, "Do you know what the drug was?" I asked; my eyes and nostrils flaring at the sight of her arm.

"Easy, Edward; it was just a sedative," He assured me, "She will be awake in about an angelica hour. Whoever did this wants her alive and well."

James did this; and whoever he works for or his own intentions wanted her alive and well in an hour…in an angelica hour. I could only guess that it was an Agilest that wanted her for whatever reason. My mind raced futilely; trying and failing to find out answers for the next hour.

I just stared at Bella, trying to will her back into consciousness. She still looked cherubic despite her unconscious state. Her mouth was set in a slight frown and her brow was set; that worried me a little. She would stir every now and then, probably trying to subconsciously fight the drug, and every time I would spring closer to her, fretting. I would adjust her blankets or brush her hair out of her face or even it out. It was alarming when I brushed a tear off of her cheeks, but Carlisle assured me that that was her body's way of dismissing the drug; a sign that she was that much closer to recovery.

After one maddening hour, nine agonizing minutes, and twenty long seconds, Bella stirred awake. She blinked rapidly and sat up, startled, with a gasp. I stood up and knelt by her bed, inching closer to her and putting a calming hand on her arm and on her shoulder. She looked at me and wrapped her arms around my neck, holding me tight. I hugged her tightly. After a few seconds, I remembered Carlisle's existence…and the rest of the world for that matter.

"You are going to have to tell us what happened this morning, Bella," I told her in a quiet voice; hating myself for making her relive yet another painful memory. Her grip on my collar tightened, than she released me. I wasn't going to be able to function without the smallest touch at least, so I took her hand as she looked bravely at Carlisle.

"Well, I woke up because I heard moans coming from down the hall. I thought for an awful moment that Rose and Emmett were having another…episode…" She began with a small smile, "but the tenor, the pitch…no, that isn't the word…but the sound itself sounded off to me; not like anyone I knew. I shrugged it off as my drowsy state and got up, checking to make sure nobody was hurt. When I rounded the corner, I saw the man standing there with a smile…an almost leering smile…he seemed to be looking at me as though he were proud of his find…" She explained, furrowing her brow in concentration for the right word. It took all of my willpower not to go and rip James' leg off and beat him with it.

"Anyways, I was about to call for Edward, who was back in the room," a pang of guilt ran through me, leaving a trail of ice behind as I realized that I was cozy and asleep while this nightmarish thing was stalking Bella. I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight… "When he lunged at me and injected me with something. It was very fast-acting, Carlisle. I barely had time to register the fact that my skin had been pierced." She told him, "It was a syringe that had a hollow point, 20 millimeter nozzle to it. It was filled with about thirty milligrams of a potent green liquid I had never seen before. My guess would be it was meant especially for Agilests. Did you get a sample of it from the injection site?" She asked routinely. How many times did this girl get stabbed with syringes?

"I managed to get just enough to decipher its chemical make-up," Carlisle said, "I do believe you are correct in your assumption. The rate at which the particles are moving in the liquid would kill an Apathy; effectively making the sedative part to it useless." He informed her. She nodded, taking this all in rather coolly.

"Did you find out his intentions?" She asked us. I looked at Carlisle, who left the room during her recovery for about fifteen minutes and my mind only now registered that he probably got some answers.

"James is rather uncooperative," Carlisle said, stealing a swift glance at me, probably measuring my reaction, "but Jasper and Emmett were able to derive that he was after Bella because he is interested in her talent. He has also let off that he has some sort of boss; a higher-up." That wasn't much, but it would have to do for now.

At that moment we heard a high-pitch keening; and, to my immense satisfaction, it sounded like that demon was in immense pain. We all exchanged an alarmed glance and rushed into the first room; me in the lead, holding Bella's hand, and Carlisle bringing up the rear.

I went through the door and went to an almost comically horrible sight. Little Alice was perched in front of James, wielding a gruesome-looking knife. Bella gasped at the sight and I noticed that the knife had some blood on it; than I saw that James' pants were torn at his left thigh and out was leaking a deep crimson liquid. Everyone was in the room, staring at Alice.

What a sick little pixie.

Despite my hatred for him, I went to save him. I was stopped mid-stride by an awed-looking Jasper.

"Wait," He breathed, "She is actually getting answers." I followed his wishes and watched the freak show commence. Alice looked at the knife closely as if inspecting the scoundrel's polluted blood.

"Hmm…" She mused, "It seems like YOU don't deal with pain to well…So I am left wondering why you would want to inflict pain on my friend…"

"Get this psycho-bitch away from me!" He shrieked almost desperately. I resisted the urge to laugh maniacally.

"I am flattered by your sweet talk," Alice continued, "but you should be counting your blessings for me, nevertheless."

"Why?! Should I be thankful that you are attempting to skin me?!" He asked incredulously.

"You should be thankful that I got to you first before Edward did," She growled as she crouched eyelevel to him in the chair, "Although I am not averse to giving you to him now." She said as she looked at me from her crouch, winking. I shifted in my chair eagerly and had the pleasure of watching James' eyes widen and shifting from Alice to me desperately.

"Whatever you do to me won't matter," He said, "My master will see to it that you are all slaughtered after we get the information he wants."

"And I will see to it that you are not given the privilege of death after I get the answers I want from you," Alice said fiercely, "even though you will be begging for the sanction that only death would be able to provide at that point. Do you want to be a writhing shrivel of miserable pain for the rest of you pitiful existence? 'Cause I can make that happen."

I wanted to applaud.

James shifted, trying to maintain his care-free, defiant stance and failing miserably. Alice whispered calmly and it was only the complete silence and lack of disruption in the room that allowed me to hear her, "I didn't think so. Now tell me, what do you want with Bella?" She demanded. James looked torn and as he deliberated Alice took the knife and stabbed the chair in between his legs, missing his thighs by mere centimeters and his sweet spot by even less. I thought that she stabbed him for one wild moment, but he wasn't howling in pain so I guessed that she intentionally missed. I wouldn't have been surprised if she got the crotch of his jeans.

His surprised yell came out sounding like a combination of a few swear words. His panicked eyes met Alice's whose was inches away from his. From her profile I could see a smile spread on her face.

"You were saying?" She said politely. His eyes darted from the knife still lodged in the chair precariously close to him and Alice's crazed eyes.

"Um… I was…" He stammered and Alice slid the knife closer to him, still lodged in the chair. I idly wondered if she had done this before, but was otherwise absorbed.

"Okay! Okay! No need to make me a eunuch or anything…" He mumbled hurriedly, "My master wanted Bella to…to… make a sort of Agilest army."

"Who is your master? Calling him such is so tedious," Alice demanded.

"My master's name is Aro, if that is what you mean." He said uneasily, obviously not liking having loose lips.

"And does this Aro want Bella in his army?" She asked.

"He wants her in his army and to make his army larger," James said, "right now all he can do is skim through Apathies and search for Agilests. When he heard that she could find Agilests or could interact with Apathies to find Agilests, he was greatly interested." He said stiffly, eyeing the knife every now and than. I was minutely aware that that wooden chair was toast. Alice looked at us with raised eyebrows and than back to James.

"How many does Aro have?" She asked.

"A good amount," James said, probably trying to remember how many, "Maybe around fifteen and counting?" He said.

"And what does he intend to do with this army? Who does he intend to fight?" She asked conversationally while keeping her intimidating crouch over him and the knife lodged in the chair.

"He wants to make the world belong to the Agilests, erase all lower beings," James said off-handedly.

"That would include the Apathies, I am guessing?" She asked in the same light tone.

"That would be his target," James said, "Sorry if they're slowness is precious to you." He added with a snarl. I saw Jasper take a step forward as James leaned closer to Alice, who never moved or flinched.

"You aren't sorry about that though," She accused in an almost sad tone, cocking her head, to which James replied with a snort, "yet; but I can make you very, very sorry too," She promised in a tone that scared me, let alone the thing that she had a weapon against. He flinched visibly away from her and into the back of the chair.

"What of the rest of us?" Alice continued, "What does he plan to do with Agilests who will resist?"

"Agilests who resists are just as lowly as Apathies," James spat, "That would include all of you."

"What does this genius Aro intend to do with the world?" Alice asked, ignoring his jibe, "Doesn't he realize that he can't beat the laws of physics into submission?"

"He intends to make someone with his knowledge," James motioned towards Carlisle, "to do what he has done here to the world."

"I won't be able to do something like-" Carlisle started to protest, but Emmett cut him off by putting a hand on his chest without looking at Carlisle; he, too, was absorbed in these revelations and Alice's performance.

"So he wants to wipe out the Apathies because they don't go as fast as us and make the world obey him, too," Alice summarized, "He sounds like a freakin' prick. Why are you working for him? Fear?"

"No!" James said through his teeth, obviously not liking the accusation, "My master is a true visionary! The world should belong to the Agilests and he is executing a plan to do so." He said; and so the defiance returns.

"His master plan involves sending a grungy, insignificant boy to kidnap a woman who lives with about seven others? Yeah, he sounds like Einstein incarnate." Alice said while straitening out of her crouch and folding her arms, rolling her eyes at the end. I heard Emmett muffle his snickers and James' eyes darted around the room.

"He trusts me!" He said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself.

"He set you up to fail," Alice hissed, "Granted, setting a flea like you up to fail isn't a hard task, but he did it because he knows your will is weak. He wants us to know of him. He knew you'd crack; and you didn't disappoint. How idiotic of you to think you were being stealthy with your stupid little serum to knock Bella out. How narrow-minded of you to think you would succeed. How pompous of you to think that you would be hailed as anything more than king of the dunces in your 'masters' eyes." Alice said in disgust. She turned to us, "I am done with this douche." She grabbed the knife up and put it in a holster in her belt that I had not seen before. How long had she concealed a weapon in her belt loop?

She started to walk away but froze when James said, "I will enjoy killing you and your little boy toy when Aro comes for me."

She spun swiftly and threw the knife towards him before anybody could react. Because of the chair's angle to the doorway in which she stood, the arm of the chair was in the way of his abdomen. I knew that she was aiming for the small target and was impressed when she hit it.

"Nice shot," James sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked in a scarily calm voice that reminded me of the quiet before the storm, "I missed."

**A/N: Is it sick that I had a lot of fun writing this chapter? Well, I did. ******** review and tell me how I did. Please and thank yous all around.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

We were all in the dining room around the large, elegant table. Those two words seemed to sum up the whole place- large and elegant. Carlisle gave James a taste of his own medicine and knocked him out with drugs. He also closed the gateway to this place so anyone who attempted to get James would fly into the concrete and not through it. I had been inspecting Bella, making sure that there were no side-effects of the drug. I still felt horrible.

"Shoot," Alice said, "I forgot to ask him how he knew to find us here…" She mumbled, looking disgruntled.

"Well, all things considered," Emmett said, "You were freaking awesome, Alice. Jasper and I were working for, like, an HOUR trying to get info on this guy," He told me, "Why didn't I think of intimidation?"

"I dunno, 'cause you're a pansy?" Alice guessed and we all laughed.

"Seriously, though, Alice," Jasper said, "Have you done anything like that before?"

"No, not really," Alice said, putting a finger on her chin and thinking, "I mean, unless you count getting info from your brother on where he put your Lizzy doll." To this we all laughed as well, but I stopped short.

"So you had siblings?" I asked quietly. Alice turned to me with a sad smile.

"Yes, I HAVE siblings," She corrected, "but we never keep in touch much anyways." From this I realized why she wanted to keep the Apathies alive; not just because it would be sick and twisted to kill them all, but because she had siblings, and those siblings had lives; lives with friends, other Apathies.

"So…we need to figure out what to do with James," Alice said, strategically changing the subject. I could think of a few things to do with that piece of… I think that my thoughts were a little too dark for whatever they were thinking.

"We can't very well keep him locked up and slice him up whenever we needed information, can we?" Esme said, shooting a pointed stare at Alice. Oh yes we could; I thought that was our best idea yet.

"Well, we want to find out where this Aro is and what our odds are against him, right?" Rosalie asked, "So why not let him go?" Everyone stared at her like she was crazy.

"I mean let him go and FOLLOW him back," Rosalie clarified. Everyone chewed this over for a little while. Emmett nodded after a few moments, "I think that's a good idea."

"We can't have us all go, so we should probably take Emmett and Jasper; Emmett could move things out of our way and Jasper could see over tall walls. Bella, Edward, I don't think that this would be a very good trip for you," Carlisle said, "They seem to want people with your talents, even though they don't know that you can do it yet, Edward."

"I am sure they won't turn their noses up at Jasper or Emmett if they find out their abilities, though," Bella said.

"It is just a risk we have to take," Carlisle said, "They would recognize you, Bella, and I doubt that Edward would part from you to go with us nevertheless."

"Wait, are you going, Carlisle?" I asked.

"I think so," Carlisle said, "Maybe this Aro can be reasoned with." Carlisle: always the diplomatic one.

"Doubtful, Carlisle," Emmett said, "We don't really intend on talking, Carlisle. When we do, we are going to bring everyone… and I do mean EVERYONE; including the other Agilests. We just want to see where he is this trip." Carlisle nodded; the frown lines more evident on his face. He knew that that second trip might involve violence, which is why we would need the large numbers. Carlisle was nothing if not a pacifist.

"Right," He murmured, "So Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper will go?" He said. Alice looked immediately worried.

"No," Alice said quickly, "I am going, too."

Jasper started to protest but shut up quickly when he received the fiercest of glares from Alice. I sank a little further in my seat, afraid for Jasper's life.

"Okay," Rosalie said quickly, trying to change the subject, "We should all probably get ready to go…"

"Right, right," Emmett agreed hurriedly, following Rosalie out of the room. Esme, Carlisle, and Bella chuckled as Jasper and Alice got up to get ready too.

"Jeez, Alice," I said, "Do you always get your way?" She only beamed and left quickly after Jasper. We all laughed.

"So what do we do until they get back?" I asked.

"I suppose we do only what we can do," Carlisle said, "Wait."

"Shouldn't we try to get a hold of other Agilests?" Esme asked. Carlisle's face lit up, obviously liking the fact that he had something to do to help, and the two of them left in a flash, leaving Bella and me alone.

"How are they going to get a hold of other Agilests?" I asked, "Do we have telephones?" Bella laughed.

"Not exactly," She said, "Carlisle helped a good deal of Agilests mature; the ones here in our time zone aren't the only ones. Whenever an Agilest wanted to go on their own, Carlisle always made sure they had some sort of device for communication. He made a sort of earpiece that most of the Agilests use to keep in touch with one another, not just Carlisle."

"Why didn't he give one to the others who are going to follow James?" I asked. Bella looked deep in thought for a second, than nodded.

"That's a good idea…" And she, too, left the room. I sighed, unsure of what to do. My feet seemed to have a mind of their own as they left the room and went past the living room and into the hallway. I had no idea where I was going, just wandering I suppose, when I found myself in the room next to mine. My mind raced as it tried to remember whose it was. I shrugged it off and left the room, only to be met by a suspicious-looking Alice.

"What were you doing in Bella's room?" She asked.

"Oh, so that is her room," I murmured, looking back at the door. She raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "Don't ask, don't tell," she mumbled and walked back into Jasper's room. I laughed and walked into my room. I looked in the dresser drawers, curious to see what the place had. It had EVERYTHING. Button-ups to polo's to silk pajamas to designer jeans to dress socks. I idly wondered how they got their hands on things like these… and than guessed that Rosalie or Alice must have either designed these or spent a great deal of time figuring out how to buy them.

_Don't ask, don't tell,_ I thought to myself with a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked, startling me somewhat.

"Nothing, nothing," I replied, turning to see an angel, "Just speculating how you guys got so many clothes and why." Bella shrugged, "Rosalie." I laughed.

"So how are the others doing?" I asked her.

"Carlisle liked your idea of having the communication between the 'away team'," She laughed softly at Carlisle's terminology. I was so mesmerized by her laugh I barely realized that she said something else.

"Er, what?" I asked, blinking rapidly to clear my head.

"I said have you had something to eat in, like, the past twelve hours?" She said laughing. Wow, I was REALLY hungry. I almost doubled over by the appetite.

"No," I murmured. She took my hand and led me to the kitchen through the dining room. Did her hand tingle every time we touched, too? She sat me down at the small kitchen table in the corner and I realized that this was my first time in the kitchen. The kitchen sink, oven, microwave, fridge were a pale-rose colored stainless steel I haven't seen before. The counter was red granite that matched the steel very well. The cabinets were a pearl-white ivory that matched the tiled white floor. There were beautiful paintings of fruit and pots around the room; the former of which making me even hungrier.

I heard Bella laugh as she set a chicken ceasar salad in front of me in a huge white bowl. She sat down with one of her own; hers more moderately sized.

"Thanks," I said fervently and dug in. She ate hers, watching me with amusement.

"Sorry I didn't get food in you before," She said after a while.

"We only had a few other things to tend to," I said sarcastically, "Don't mention it. This is really good, by the way. Thank you." She smiled in response, and I suddenly became hungry for something else…

There was an awkward silence that fell consisting of me trying very hard to contain my thoughts that were headed south at an alarming rate and her looking around the room as if forced to inspect every detail. We both got up and walked to my room again; seemingly knowing where the other one was headed without having to speak. There was another silence in my room.

"Well," She said as the same time I said, "Do you…?" and we both paused for the other to finish.

"I think I'll let you freshen up for bed," She said quietly with a small smile. She took a step closer to me and seemed to hesitate as she tip toed to get closer to my face and kissed my cheek. She smiled again and waved as she glided from the room. I seemed to be frozen on the spot for a few moments before I shook my head and picked out the first pair of sleep clothes from the dresser I found. The clothes were a set of blue silk button up shirt and matching silk pants. I found a pair of boxers and laid the clothes out on the bed.

Putting a towel that I found in the bathroom's cabinet on the vanity and turning on the faucet to the shower, I took another glance around the bathroom. These people really didn't spare any expense, did they? I suppose that coming from the land of the luxurious I should be accustomed to this.

I reveled in the warmth that the shower brought; relaxing the muscles that tightened when Bella touched me. How sick is it that I wanted to drag Bella in with me in the shower? My mind wandered with that possibility and I tried to stop the tainted thoughts as they made my blood boil. Before anything could happen further I turned on the cold water to the shower and focused on scrubbing my scalp vigorously with the shampoo and conditioner.

After I was sure that my body was under control I stepped out of the shower. A fumbling search in the steamy room found the towel and I secured it around my waist and stepped out into my room;

Only to find the most deliciously sexy sight I could have thought of.

There on my bed was Bella; only wearing my silk button-up shirt and perched in the middle of the bed with the large pillows framing her. She was lying down on the bed with her long legs crossed and her hair fanning out over the pillow in a waterfall of chocolate brown. The midnight blue shirt made her skin look like a sensational creamy color. When she met my gaze her cheeks turned that adorable shade of pink, matching my shirt all the more, and she sat up, spreading her legs and putting her hands in the space between them.

"I was hoping that I could sleep with you tonight," She said in such a sultry voice I thought I was going to burst, and an electric shock ran through me as I realized the double meaning behind her words. I crossed the room in three long strides and jumped on the bed and on Bella and unleashed the thoughts that plagued my mind that I had worked so hard to repress before.

That poor button-up shirt never stood a chance.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I had the most amazing dream in the history of amazing dreams. Look into the archive of amazing dreams and you will find the one I had last night at the very top of the list, I promise you. I sighed, eyes still closed, and went to roll over.

This would have been easier had there not been someone in my arms.

My eyes shot open and I breathed in the scent of and drank in the sight of Bella, up close and very nude. My eyes widened. Interesting; it wasn't just a dream. She sighed in her sleep and nuzzled closer into my body- which was also very unclothed. I marveled at the speed of which our relationship had grown. Hey, we're Agilests; we were literally built for speed.

I reveled in the feel of her warm body and was secretly and immensely gratified that our bodies fit so well together. My mind had violent flashbacks to last night's proceedings…

_I jumped on Bella right after she very nearly made me go insane with lust on my bed in my clothes and she tore the towel that was around my waist from me and the poor pajama shirt was in taters by the time my…um…teeth were done with it. I don't know where it came from but some animalistic need took over my whole senses and my teeth seemed like the best thing to remove the shirt for my hands were otherwise busy with inspecting every inch of her satin skin. _

_She wrapped her bare legs around my waist and kissed me with fervor like never before. Her tongue sensually flicked my mouth and explored, leaving a very warm sensation in its wake. I pressed my body closer to hers and into the bed and she moaned, feeling the urgency of my need for her in my evident arousal. I was about to enter her warm core when she stopped me, smiling coyly._

"_Why the rush, Mason?" She asked with a seductive gleam in her smile and eyes. _

"_Because you are making me insane," I growled into the skin of her neck that I had been kissing moments before. She wriggled off of her mount on my waist and I looked quizzical, but she merely laid me down on the very comfortable bed and knelt over me on one side. Her hands moved from her side to my abs and I inhaled sharply through my nostrils at the feelings that shot through me. She flicked a sly smile to me and moved her hands very, very far south and reached my inner, upper thigh. _

"_You are getting anxious NOW? I barely started," She said scolding. I shut my eyes tight and whispered, "Isabella Swan; you will be the death of me." _

_She startled me by murmuring in my ear, "You will die a very happy man, than, once I am through with you…IF I ever get through with you…" I groaned and bit my lip, trying to avoid just taking her right then and there and pounding into her with the momentum of a jack-hammer. _

_I kept my eyes steadily shut as her hands found their way to my thighs again. Her hands rubbed their way to my hips and I could feel my muscles bunching in anticipation. She startled me into snapping my eyes open and making a guttural groan emit from my lips by putting her mouth right on my- _

"Good morning," My angel breathed, looking at me and batting her sleepy eyes awake and effectively snapping me back into the present.

"That's a massive understatement. How did you sleep?" I asked as she got up and stretched, giving me a glorious view.

"I slept with an angel, how do you think I slept?" She said with a smile.

"I think that I wasn't very gentlemanly last night," I said, frowning a tad after thinking it over.

"And for that I am grateful," She said while blushing. I sat up to meet her gaze.

"Well, not that part really… What I meant was I don't think I went about it the right way," I said, trying to explain how I felt without sounding exceedingly deranged. She cocked her head to the side and her hair fell from her shoulder down her back. I looked at it and used my fingertips to push her hair to one side, allowing me to see her back. I had the pleasure of watching her shiver slightly and moan at my touch.

"I-I don't think I unders-stand what you mean," She said in a valiant effort to keep coherent. I restrained my smirk and looked at her with what I hoped was a smoldering look.

"I mean that I don't think that I let you enjoy the moment; I didn't ravish you like I should have. I sort of rushed us into it," I said, shifting closer to her so I was murmuring into her neck and letting my lips move against her skin as I spoke in a husky voice I barely recognized as my own. Her breath caught and I saw her fumble for words.

"I…You didn't…That…" She mumbled, shifting her weight onto her hands as I positioned myself over her. Her eyes went wide and she looked down my body, now very close to her own, and back to my eyes.

"Enjoying the view?" I whispered. Her arms seemed to give out as she flopped down on the bed, her hair splaying around her and her breath coming out in a whoosh. She took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed and then opened them with a look in her eyes that was like a magnet to me. I almost fell on her as I leaned down in a haste to kiss her ferociously; the damned woman was too sexy for her own good.

I was later thankful for my lapse in control, however, because at that moment someone burst through the doors and I was the only thing shielding Bella's chest from being exposed, and the comforter saving me. I looked behind my back to see who the intruder was in time to hear Alice's screech.

"MY EYES!!!! AHHH!!! OH MY GOD, MY EYES!" She shrieked, throwing her hands over her eyes and stumbling out the door she flew into. I heard her thump in the hallway when she lost her footing and her slight moan.

"Ugh, when you people are done doing whatever it is you are doing," She paused for what I guessed was a shiver, "Come into the living room; the 'away team' is back already."

She graciously shut the door and I heard her grumbling as she walked away. I chuckled and Bella looked a lovely shade of red.

"She is so subtle about her wakeup calls." I said, "Well, as much as I hate to get you dressed, we should probably hear about what is going on." She rolled her eyes.

"The end of the world can wait," She said with an adorable pout as she snaked her arms around my waist and pulled me closer somehow. My eyes rolled upwards slightly as her hands traveled up my body and into my hair as she looked from my eyes to my lips- a nearly irresistible invitation. I groaned when my face was about three inches from her in frustration, knowing that I shouldn't close the gap between us and should go and see what was up. I kissed her chastely, ignoring the desire to deepen the kiss, and got off of her. She pouted slightly but sighed in defeat.

It was truly heart-wrenching to see Bella clothe that goddess-like body with a tantalizing blue tank top and low rise jeans. It was odd that there were woman's clothes in the closet, but I didn't look too much into it. I snapped out of staring longingly at her and returned to clothing my own back. We both walked out of the room and down the hallway that led into the living room.

Upon opening the door for Bella, I heard clapping. Oh God please no…

No such luck…

Emmett's booming laughter filled the cozy room and reverberated off the paneled walls. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he mocked punched my shoulder while saying, "Wow, man, I didn't know you had it in you." I shut my eyes and sighed, preparing for the worst.

"Oh c'mon, Emmett; just because you are overly sexually active doesn't mean that every other male isn't at least healthily active," Jasper reasoned, and I was about to thank him until he turned to me with a smirk and said, "Besides, I am sure Edward is great in bed, am I right Bella?" He caught me so off guard I didn't have a response; a rare occurrence for me. I blinked a few times in astonishment as everyone else laughed hysterically, or tried to look stern in Carlisle and Esme's case.

"Yeah, Bella, how does Edward do in the sack?" Alice asked good-naturedly, to which Bella responded with turning a violent shade of red and ducking her head into my chest.

"Why, are you interested, Alice?" Rosalie asked, the only one defending us. I sent her a meaningful glance and she winked. Alice looked taken aback and was stumbling for a words (another rare occurrence), but before she could reply, Rosalie cut her off with, "Save it, and save Edward and Bella for that matter. We have some news that we need to share." I thanked my lucky stars for that woman.

"Right," Emmett said, snapping back into reality.

"What is it that you found?" Carlisle asked, letting me know that no one got the lowdown on their outing.

"Well, we followed Rose's amazing plan," Emmett said; suck up, "and tailed James back to Aro's 'layer'." He clarified while rolling his eyes.

"And we found that he is stationed in Volterra, Italy," Alice continued. I was completely lost.

"How on Earth did you get to Italy overnight? Can we fly planes…?" I asked. Everyone laughed.

"Edward, we're Agilests," Bella said as if it was so obvious it hurt. I started to get irked.

"I know that," I said briskly, "But how exactly does a frozen world make the distance shorter? We can't travel by plane or boat, right?"

"We can run extremely fast even in angelica time for long periods of time," Carlisle explained.

"Isn't there an ocean in the way?" I asked, not quite fully understanding how the hell they got there and back.

"The water doesn't part under our feet, Edward," Bella said, "We move too fast for it to move, don't we? Remember, the world is frozen." That explains it.

"Oh, that's all you had to say," I mumbled. To avert their chuckles, I added, "So what else have you found?"

"Well," Rosalie said, clearly still on my side and wanting to move forward, "Aro has quite a get out over there. He actually has a castle. He managed to get what Carlisle did here for the vast majority of the castle, but Jasper was able to scale the walls and see that some of the castle was still in apathetic time." That was interesting: maybe that it why Aro wanted a Carlisle; to finish his castle.

"What are their numbers like?" Carlisle asked quietly.

"They have a ton of people, Carlisle," Emmett said just as quietly.

A ton of people meant they were preparing for a fight, not some tea party. The silence that hung in the air was almost tangible as everyone swam in their own thoughts.

"Who did you get a hold of, Carlisle?" Bella asked after a while.

"I was able to get contact with several people, with the help of Esme of course," He said with a loving smile towards Esme, "We contacted our friends in Ireland, most of the nomadic, and the Denali group." He could have been speaking another language; while everyone else nodded thoughtfully I was just in the background like "huh?" I guessed I would meet all of these people soon enough.

"We may need more, Carlisle," Jasper said, clearly one of the stronger strategists in the family. Carlisle's eyes widened, obviously not liking the need for more; more people more fighting. After a while he nodded and left the room, probably going to make some more calls. Esme left with him.

Well this sucks.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ok, so this is the chapter with the other Agilests. I tried to get the looks down as much as I could to coincide with the book, but I am going to describe to you how I pictured them.**

Chapter Nine

Never had I been so on edge; not even when I thought that Bella was some demonic angel and flew with me off of the roof of that skyscraper. Nope; this beats it. I was in the first room with the other Agilests I know in a sort of welcoming line for the other Agilests in the world. It turns out that Carlisle was able to get other groups; evidently we weren't the only (sane) Agilest group in the world.

I noticed that Alice was also a little jumpy and I realized that she didn't know any of these people either. This is actually, like, our first or second week here and already a war is about to break out.

Every ten seconds I would look at everyone in the room and gauge their reactions, than look back to the part of the ceiling where the other Agilests would come in. It would soon be literally raining Agilests. I looked around the room again and noticed its size. It was a remarkably small room to expect to hold such a large amount of people.

I looked nervously at Bella, who smiled at me and mouthed "I love you," which took me off guard and distracted me for a minute, but I replied with an "I love you, too,".

I nearly jumped out of my skin when the ceiling seemed to pop open as five people fell through the roof and landed gracefully onto the floor. My eyes narrowed; why couldn't I land on my feet when I first came here? I straitened my face when I realized that it looked like I was glaring at them and put on a pleasant smile for the newcomers. Two of the five, a man and a woman, were holding hands. They had the Esme-Carlisle persona of being soul mates and you just know they are inseparable. The male resembled Jasper with his thin blond hair, only his was almost platinum white, and his high cheekbones and tall figure.

The woman at his side had a calming, loving aura about her and she looked around the room with a pleasant smile on her fair skinned face. Her hair was a deep brown and in corkscrew curls that draped over her shoulders.

The other three were women. One of them had black hair that was pin strait and went down to the small of her back. She had sharp, sculpted features. She peered at everyone through the darkest of eyes, but her eyes were like a black dot; there was no depth to her eyes like Bella's. The one to her left had brown hair that was about shoulder length in a ponytail. Her cocky nature and kind smile reminded me of Emmett. The last woman was a pretty blonde with wavy, long blonde hair. She had pouty lips and deep blue eyes that were set into a very fair-skinned face. One very shaped eyebrow rose as she looked in my direction and pretty much checked me out. I was kind of wierded out, but I kept on a nice smile and looked to the man who had started talking.

"Carlisle, it has been too long," He said warmly as he hugged Carlisle and gave him a pat on the back.

"Very true, Eleazar," Carlisle said, "A lot has changed since you were here last, my friends. Allow me to introduce you to two of our new additions." Alice and I stiffened a little and she gave me a small smile as we were basically eye-raped.

"Eleazar, this is Edward Mason," Carlisle said, "Edward, meet Eleazar and his group." Eleazar's eyes scrutinized me for a minute and they almost seemed stunned by what they found until the blonde one said,

"Ah, this is the famous runner everyone is raving about," she mused as she looked at me closer. She strode to my front and extended a manicured hand, "My name is Tanya, these are my sisters Irina," She said as she pointed to the black haired woman, "Kate," to the girl with her hair up, she nodded in my direction with a smile, "and Eleazar's wife, Carmen," she concluded gesturing towards the curly-haired woman latched to Eleazar.

"It's a pleasure meeting you," Carmen said warmly; oh yeah, she was definitely their Esme.

"Likewise, I am sure," I said with a smile. Tanya's face seemed to light up when I spoke and I noticed Bella take a step closer to me and she snaked her arm around mine. I laughed softly and wrapped my arm around her waist. I smiled at Bella and she returned it, but when I looked back at Tanya her face was terrifying.

It wasn't rage or anger or even jealousy, but it was a calculative expression. It was like she could almost measure the intensity of our relationship and, I may be going mad, but it looked like she was measuring up an opponent. It wasn't like she was measuring Bella up as her adversary, but our relationship in itself; like she was seeing just how much she would have to do in order to break it. Kate seemed to notice too because she cleared her throat and nudged Tanya, giving her a meaningful glare. Tanya rolled her eyes and looked at Carlisle.

"So, if what we heard is true, than the others should be coming here soon?" She asked. Seconds after that was said, the roof started to open up and the new group was standing directly under where another group was about to fall into. They calmly stepped aside as a man and a woman fell to the ground.

"There's your answer, Tanya," Emmett chuckled. The man helped the woman up- they weren't as graceful as the first group- and smiled at Jasper.

"Jasper, nice to meet you again," He said cordially as he crossed the room to shake hands with Jasper. He smiled.

"Peter, Charlotte," Jasper greeted with a kind smile. Charlotte smiled back and her eyes widened when she looked at Alice and Jasper's arm around her.

"Is that…?" She whispered with a hand to her mouth, and I think she was talking about Alice.

"Yes, Charlotte, this is her," Jasper said while smiling an affectionate smile towards Alice, who met his gaze with one of her own. I realized that Peter and Charlotte were one of the people who had to suffer with Jasper while Jasper was without Alice and had to watch her from angelica time. They must have been almost as relieved as Carlisle and Esme with Alice's maturing into an Agilest and arrival. Charlotte stepped forward and embraced Alice, who returned the hug somewhat quizzically. I heard Charlotte whisper, "Thank you," into Alice's ear and Alice hugged Charlotte tighter and her features straitened into a look of understanding.

Charlotte pulled back and greeted the others along with Peter. She stopped at me and smirked at Bella.

"Is THAT…?" She asked, gesturing towards me. Bella blushed and nodded meekly. Charlotte laughed good-naturedly and stepped towards me, extending a hand. I shook it with the hand that wasn't around Bella.

"This is Edward, Charlotte; Edward, Charlotte and Peter," Carlisle said.

"It is nice to finally meet you," Charlotte said, stressing "finally" and eyeing the already blushing Bella. I was about to ask what was all of the loaded looks for when I got it; Bella had been keeping a closer eye than necessary on me before I matured because she was like Jasper. I laughed and squeezed Bella's shoulders with my arm.

"The others are on their way, we might want to make room," Esme asked kindly, gesturing towards the door out of the overly crowded first room, "won't you come in?" All of the guests agreed and went with Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett into the next room. Carlisle, Jasper, Alice, Bella and I were still a part of the welcoming committee.

Seven down, who knows how many more to go…

………………………………………………………

It was truly exhausting to say the same thing and feel like a museum exhibit the whole day.

"Hello, my name is Edward; and yes, I was a professional runner but am now an Agilest in love with Bella," was the basic gist of the introductions. Nine others came into Carlisle's place and asked Alice and I a million and one questions about everything: our apathetic lives, our relationships with their friends, etc.

One of the groups that came from the Amazon (and looked like it with their height and fierce expressions, but had a sweet disposition) was Kachiri, Senna, and Zafrina (who had the ability to make people have hallucinations…which I found startling).

An Egyptian group came as well and their names were Amun, Kebi (a couple) and Benjamin (who seemed oddly like a third wheel to the couple). Benjamin had the ability to alter both apathetic and angelic weather; or he could make the apathetic weather (winds or rains for example) move fast enough to affect Agilests. Amun seemed very territorial over Kebi; Kebi could barely speak three words to someone else before Amun would either correct her or cut her off and disconnect her from the conversation. This irked me because Kebi seemed a very interesting person and there was no way that anyone could so much as communicate with her. I was very thankful when Emmett cut Amun's cut-off off by saying, not in so many words, "I asked Kebi, thank you, Amun," Amun was like a kindergartener that you had to tell to wait his turn.

Other "wonderers" or "nomads" that came were Mary, Garret, and Tia. They all had a sort of grunge look going for them, but it was easy to see why Carlisle had them as friends; they were very pleasant people. Garret was very opinionated about certain things like the civil war and Jasper and he got into an animated discussion on the subject; that is until Garret saw Kate and Kate saw Garret and they seemed to hit it off. Garret literally stopped mid-sentence and stared at Kate like a kid staring at Disney Land. Tia and Benjamin seemed to be have a nice conversation; the quiet Tia bowing her head in shyness at things that Ben would murmur in her ear with a smile. Mary just wanted to talk to Jasper pretty much; she seemed to be like Charlotte in her relationship with Jasper (sort of like a sister) and Mary took to Alice like everyone else is forced to; the girl seems to have a "you must like me" force about her.

I briefly wondered how the nomads, or any Agilest who doesn't have their own area of angelica time zones for that matter, could survive in a frozen world. They couldn't move things like food, much less eat them. I asked Bella and she said, "Agilests don't really need to eat much, as you should have guessed by now. When was the last time you ate? However, when they need to, outside of our time zone, they pretty much just pick things up and wait for the pieces of food to move. It is a pretty long process, but they only need to do it like once every three days." I still thought that that was pretty long and often, but I guessed what works, works. It must have sounded harder than it really is or something.

Conversation was pleasant with the others; Tanya a little too attentive to me than comfortable, but Carlisle soon rounded us up in the living room and sat us down in various places to call the "meeting" to order.

"Ok everyone," Carlisle said after clearing his throat and putting his leader hat on, "It is very nice to meet you, but unfortunately this is not necessarily a time for pleasantries. We have found out that Aro, a previously unknown Agilest, has been raising a sort of army and intends to take over the Apathies and take the world from them." There were a few gasps, even though I am sure that everyone here was informed that this wasn't a tea party.

"How many do they have, Carlisle?" Garret asked.

"His numbers are great," Carlisle said gravely.

"Roughly thirty-five," Jasper said calmly. People nodded their heads soberly. For the first time since even James' arrival, I thought of how huge this was; how many people in this room may not be alive next week. The thought sent a shiver down my spine and I held Bella closer.

"What do you want us to do, Carlisle," Amun asked stiffly, "Fight?"

Carlisle visibly became rigid and shook his head, "I would never ask of something of you like that." He said.

"Hell, I would!" Emmett said, standing up. Carlisle shot him a look of warning.

"Oh, c'mon, Carlisle! You are going to have to give up the diplomacy to save lives;" Emmett said exasperatedly, "hesitating could be the opposite of helpful."

"And rushing in there would be the farthest from helpful that we could possibly get, Emmett," Amun snapped. Kebi inched closer to Amun, clearly not liking Emmett's size or the rise in her husband's temper.

"Listen, if you wanna hide under a rock the whole time this freakin' civil war is breaking out, be my guest," Rosalie said, "we aim to stop some megalomaniac from taking countless lives; Apathies and Agilests alike. You may not like the prospect of a fight, Carlisle, but I hardly doubt that this Aro will be capable of reason." Silence reined in the room as the truth gripped us.

"So you want us to go in there and fight?" Amun asked after a while.

"Carlisle would never ask you to do something you didn't want to, Amun," Esme said, "if you wish to take your leave, you may; it was nice seeing you. If you would like to join the cause and help us keep a world worth living in, stay."

"Nice sentiments, Esme, but I don't think that you leave us much of a choice," Amun said bitingly. I got really pissed off; who was he to talk to the nicest people I know like that?

"If I may," I said, standing up and facing Amun, "get out." I said flatly. Amun looked at me with shock.

"What did you say, boy?" He sneered.

"You are clearly more capable of cowardice than bravery and valor," I said with venom, "so you are of no help to us. You are stating the blatantly obvious by hinting a fight MIGHT not be successful, so you are obviously not a strategist; and you are scared of a challenge, so leave." I clarified. He looked at me, opening and closing his mouth and resembling a fish. Everyone watched him stumble for words in silence.

"I never said I wanted to leave," He came up with brilliantly while standing up and trying to look down at me but failed because I was about four inches taller than him.

"Then why don't you stop bitching and start helping the best people I know and people who you are blessed to know," I said while staring him down. He stared at me for a while, but his gaze softened after a few seconds as he appraised me. I had no idea that there was some sort of test, but I guess I won because Amun faced Carlisle with a smile and said, "Let's go get 'em."

And so the meeting commenced.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Everyone was set. We were, quite literally, going to storm the castle. I was slightly worried about having to RUN to Italy; it goes against the grain. I just couldn't shake the mental picture of, like, me fainting in the middle of the Atlantic or something and the others having to carry me or something.

When we reached the shore of the Atlantic these thoughts came back full force.

I nervously looked at Bella, a reoccurring habit of mine, and she looked up and smiled while squeezing my hand. Just as well, we had run across the continental United States in one hour and still weren't winded. How is THAT for Cross Country? The sensation of running at blinding speeds was invigorating. We must have been running at, like, one-thousand miles per angelic hour. Try converting THAT to apathetic time, I dare you.

The beach was a slightly depressing sight. What should have been a vibrant scene was a sight drained of color- a result of the speed we were traveling. The waves that should have been crashing on the shore and sending a calming sound our way was still and soundless. The wind that should have been blowing on our faces was dead. I don't recall even feeling heat. We stopped just so that we could rest somewhat; not physically, but mentally. It is slightly jarring to do this much running and not get tired.

We all sort of sat down in a dilapidated circle and talked strategy. The plan wasn't that rock solid. We would pretty send a small team to go in and talk to Aro (so not my idea). This group included Carlisle, Esme, Garret, Kachiri, Eleazar, and Peter. They would try to reason with Aro (and I am positive it won't work). The rest of us would scan the perimeter, search for weak points in the castles security, et cetera. If someone saw us, Zafrina was to incapacitate them with some sort of hallucination; like make them see nothing where we are, like they just imagined a group of people. Jasper would "swim" up the walls or around obstacles to get a better view of their inner sanctums and all that good stuff. My guess is that a fight is going to break out and we are all going to have to kick some major psycho butt. With Zafrina, Jasper, and Emmett's powers and our sheer numbers that have pretty good experience, I am feeling pretty good.

But I really shouldn't get cocky.

Every nerve in my body became a live wire as I imagined the possibility of capture. I would not be able to bear ANYTHING that happened to Bella. Even thinking of the others was painful. Then the thought of Alice sparked into my mind and I prayed to God that James would either A. not be important enough to be able to do what he wanted with her or B. be too stupid to recognize her as the person who dug secrets out of him with a knife. The thought of what vengeance James would want made my stomach twist. He had some sick affection for Bella- the kind that mental rapists have for their victims. I had to control the snarl that threatened to rip through me at the thought of said hypothetical situation.

"You alright there?" Bella asked quietly.

"'Alright' is relative," I said, shutting my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose to keep control of the dark and heinous thoughts.

"It's going to be alright," Bella whispered.

"Is it? Is it really?" I asked, "There are just too many things that could go wrong. We pretty much have to kill everyone in order to win." I heard her sigh beside me.

"I wonder how well our side will do," Bella mused. I opened my eyes and released my nose.

"The same thought that has been plaguing me for a while," I stated while looking in her eyes.

"We will stay alive, Edward," She said fiercely, "you WILL stay alive." I looked at her a little puzzled.

"There is no way that you can… not live, Edward," She said, for the first time letting fear slip into her voice and color her features. I looked into her terror-filled eyes and grabbed the back of her neck and her hair and kissed her with feeling. She responded by sliding closer to me and putting her hands in my hair. We pulled back after a few seconds…or minutes…or hours; who really wastes their time trying to keep track of it now?

I had to catch my breath, but I still kept our faces close as I looked into her eyes and sort of panted. She was breathing heavily as well and looked deeply into my eyes with a penetrating stare.

"Promise me you will stay alive," She whispered desperately.

"How exactly can I guarantee something like that?" I asked.

"You can guarantee that by staying alive," She said. I chuckled at her lack of logic.

"I think your train of thought is slightly lacking logic," I said, "We can only hope for the best, Bella. I am afraid, too." Her eyes started to water and she dove into my chest and scooted into my lap. I held her and rubbed circles into her back while she tearlessly sobbed.

"I'm so scared, Edward," She whispered into my neck. I nodded.

"I know, Bella," Probably not my most comforting words; but honestly, what could I say? "It's going to be ok"? I think not.

I held her while the others continued with the conversation until Jasper stood up and said, "I think we should cross it," while squinting over the Atlantic as if looking for an adversary. He jumped up and floated upwards and I watched in awe- this was the first time that I actually saw his talent. He floated effortlessly while looking over the Atlantic; probably looking for people.

"There are only about five Apathies here, and no other Agilests," Jasper called from his height. He started to fall and I almost made a move to try and catch him, but he regained his weightless form about four feet off of the ground, and floated the rest of the way to the ground; show off. I laughed softly at his show as Alice clapped. Jasper looked at Alice with a confused frown, but looked back up to where he was with an expression that was like "oh, yeah, I guess that was pretty amazing".

Bella took my hand, "Are you ready to walk on water?" She asked excitedly.

"No, I am ready to RUN on water," I clarified. We all took off over the water; careful to jump of the waves so we wouldn't split the waves and send water splashing everywhere at blinding speeds and possibly deadly speeds to an Apathy. I could see the headlines now: "Person killed by really, really fast moving water puncturing the skull"

That would go over well.

The feeling of running over water was a surreal and thrilling experience; I definitely recommend it the next time you find yourself outrunning the speed of light. About fifteen minutes and three hundred miles into the Atlantic, we saw a pack of WHALES. Kachiri almost slammed into me because I made the split-second decision to stop and look at the whales closer. She just ended up jumping over me and Jasper met her in the air and captured her in his weird zero-gravity and set her down so she wouldn't create a crater of water. I smiled sheepishly, but Kachiri, along with most of the others, just laughed at me and at Jasper's reflexes. We ended up just looking at the whales for two minutes, and then we were off again.

Forty-five minutes later led us to land. We found out that we hit land by Emmett's booming, "LAND-HOOOOO". We decided to go through the straits of Gibraltar and around Africa so as to avoid Apathies and having to be careful of not destroying cities. We crossed the Mediterranean and went North of Corsica; following Jasper's directions. He led us through a city that we had to slow down in so we didn't tear up the pavement. We were also careful not to touch ANYTHING. Not a weed growing through the pavement, not a wall, not a single fruit on a passing fruit stand, and Apathies were strictly off-limits.

We came to a hill that gave us a view of about two-thirds of a castle that I only assumed was Aro's; but, really, how many castles are there in this blasted country? The hill was about two miles away from the castle and there was an open field in between the hill and the castle in front of us, but woods to our right that also ran along the castle. It was an impressive-looking castle, tall and every inch of its walls and roofs were sculpted and carved from marble or stone. The style resembled Gothic in structure but Romanesque in color. I could see parts of the castle that were in angelica time- the parts that had color on them- and had different colors. The angelica parts had a deep black-purple color to them and vibrant colors in their stained-glass windows. I could faintly make out the small mounds of what I guessed were gargoyles of some sort. There was not an Agilest in sight.

Carlisle took a deep breath, "Ok, everyone, we have talked strategy and you know what you have to do," which pretty much consisted of us waiting for all hell to break loose in the castle and us to go in there and raise more hell, "My small group, let's go." He said as he straightened up from his crouch and so did the rest of his crowd. The rest of us stayed low and out of view. I watched as Carlisle confidently strode across the field with his group at his flanks. The rest of us went to the side and moved in the forest so we would have a better view of the castle and be able to be there faster if (more like WHEN) they need us. My heart nearly stopped as the drawbridge came down to admit Carlisle and the others in and closed shut.

And now we wait.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Waiting sucks. It is way up there on my list of "suckiest things to have to do". Especially when said thing is occurring while something else is that could determine if you and loved ones lived or died. Jasper brought Alice to one of the treetops so that they could be the lookout. I obtained my previous habit of looking at everyone once every ten seconds, than back at the castle. I wanted Jasper to see if he could find a perch that he could see Carlisle, but Jasper assured me that there were no windows where Carlisle was talking to Aro.

I wasn't the only one on edge, and rightfully so. Bella was fidgeting a lot, and she had a similar habit of scanning the area, looking at me, than scanning again. We were basically waiting for a signal. Carlisle would either walk confidently out of the castle the best of friends with Aro, or, otherwise more probable, some screams would erupt and so would chaos. I cursed under my breath for what felt like the millionth time; damn our circumstances. It just all felt so hopeless. I felt foolish for thinking that this plan would work.

It was seriously like going against the U.S. navy in a rowboat with a pistol; your only advantage was hoping that the army would be doubled over in laughter at your idiocy long enough for you to take out maybe twenty people.

True, we did have some advantage; what with Zafrina giving us some defensive and Jasper some as well. Benjamin might be of great help to us too, but his power could hurt our people as well. Emmett might be able to crush some people with objects stuck in apathetic time that they can't use. We may have a shot.

And as long as I am dreaming maybe Rosalie could flip her hair and stun the male guard with her killer looks.

"Steady guys," Jasper whispered, piercing the silence and making me completely on edge, "there are some ten people heading towards the forest."

"Where ah dey, Jaspear?" Zafrina whispered in her heavy accent, scanning the darkness that even our eyes could not penetrate easily.

"Roughly ten o'clock and closing," Alice hissed. Jasper took Alice and glided to another tree top that probably gave them a better view. After about twenty seconds of nearly hurting myself for the strain of hearing or seeing the advancers, I faintly heard voices and their approaching footsteps. Nobody so much as dared to breathe. We all backed silently behind the trees and surrounding foliage and waited to get more information on them.

"Can you spot anything, Demetri?" a female voice sounded through the silence. There was a pause while this Demetri hesitated, "I can't be sure," he said, seeming uneasy, "I thought I had a trail a second ago, but I suppose their trail has faded." I guessed that this Demetri was some sort of tracker and was looking for traces of Carlisle on us or someone else. I also surmised that Zafrina was using her power to tamper with what he saw.

"Demetri! Aro will skin us if we do not give him the others," the female hissed, "Aro saw in Carlisle's thoughts that there were about eighteen left here in the forest."

"I didn't know he saw eighteen others!" Demetri hissed into the darkness in the female's direction, "The small party of ours can't take on eighteen, Jane!"

"He's lying," Carmen breathed near me. I was confused; this was the first shred of good news I had heard in a while, we could beat at least this small team of people, and she was discounting it.

"How do you know?" Bella whispered, voicing my thoughts. Carmen looked puzzled for a second, than shrugged.

"I would stake my life on it," She murmured while looking at the blindly wandering forms fiercely, "I don't know how I know but I do; they have much more than they are letting on."

"Zafrina," Jasper hissed from a branch above us, "hold the others off, I want to talk to this Demetri."

Zafrina nodded and probably worked to mask any signs of Jasper's movement. Jasper effortlessly leaped off of the tree branch and onto Demetri's back, holding a firm hand to his mouth. Alice jumped down from the low branch she scaled onto and sprinted towards Jasper, helping him in the struggle.

Zafrina let out an exasperated sigh as she fought to mask Alice as well as Demetri's smothered calls for help. Alice managed to take him out by the knees and Jasper kept him suspended and glided towards the bulk of our group.

Demetri had black hair that was in a crew cut and a long black robe on that matched the other members of his team. He had a light olive complexion and a thick Italian accent, but managed to get the phonics of English right.

His eyes were wild and his nostrils flared as Jasper pegged him up against a tree trunk with his forearm and hand a hand to his mouth.

"Listen to me," Jasper snarled, "Your life is not very significant to me as it is; you only lessen its worth and endanger yourself by attempting to scream for help." Demetri's fights and flails died after he absorbed the information.

"Ok," Jasper said as he released his hand over Demetri's mouth, but kept a firm grip on his torso with his arm, "Why are you planning to fight us if Carlisle is talking peace in there?"

"Carlisle is a fool," Demetri said with distaste. WHAP! Jasper backhanded him across the face, "That is not what I asked and that is untrue," He growled, not taking talk of his father like that, "Answer the question."

"Alright," Demetri said, "Aro is not going to take any other way than his own. He wants to destroy the Apathies and rule the world of Agilests. He is a true visionary and—" WHAP!

"That is not what I asked either. Don't answer more than you need to," Jasper said. Damn, Alice and Jasper were meant for each other; what with their extensive techniques in getting answers.

"How many of you are there?" Jasper asked. Demetri glared at him, "Too many for you to count—" WHAP!

"ALRIGHT!" Demetri bellowed, looking irked; Jasper sighed. WHAP!

"There are ladies in our midst," Jasper said, "Do not raise your voice." Demetri was going to be black and blue by the time Jasper is done with him.

"Ok," Demetri said in a lower tone of loathing, "There are probably thirty-five of us. Forgive me for not counting them all for our meeting." He sneered.

"No, I don't think I will," Jasper mused in a mocking voice, "But you will beg for forgiveness in due time. Now, what is going to happen to Carlisle and the others?"

"They are being dealt with," Demetri said with an evil gleam in his dark eyes. I heard Bella stifle a gasp next to me and was pretty sure I was the only one who heard her. I felt awful for Carmen and the others who had a husband or partner in there. Ben stiffened and stepped closer to Tia and Kate let out a gasp, Garret was in there. Tanya put a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, payple," Zafrina said in a strangled voice, "but zere is only zo much I can do for zo long."

Jasper hurried along, "Ok, everyone. It seems that we have been breached. We need to start now," He said while looking around, "Incapacitate as many as you can."

"It is too late for that, you fool," Demetri sneered. Jasper's head whipped back to face Demetri, "What do you mean, you swine?"

"I mean that we already know where you are. Your little hallucinogen over there can only foil our sense of sight and smell. We have a mind reader and they know where you are." He hissed in obvious pleasure to our downfall, "and that mind reader is letting Alec know where you are, and he will leave you senseless, literally," Demetri barked a laugh.

At that moment I felt a cool mist surround the area and felt a little dizzy. I saw Zafrina fall down seemingly unconscious and Tanya yelped in surprise, catching her a little lazily. Maybe she was numbing too. I guessed that this was Alec. I fought to stay awake and looked at Bella, who was completely awake and looking at all of us in our doped up state in terror.

"Edward!" She hissed, "Edward! Wake up! Stay with me, please!" She begged. I fought as hard as I could, but I could not stay awake: my every sense dulled; I could no longer feel the ground that I was gripping to stay awake, I could not see anything two feet away from me, I could not smell the musty scent of the forest, and I could barely make out anything under a whisper. The last thing I heard was a fait chuckle and, "Take the girl, she must be a shield; but she is no match for us," and Bella scream.

"I'll take care of your girlie, Eddie dearie," a truly heinous voice hissed in my face. Even in my lesser form of consciousness I could make out that voice. It was James.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

I heard panting beside me and someone whispering my name and a few other peoples' name. I faintly heard Bella's voice.

"Edward? Edward! For the love of God please wake up," She nearly sobbed. My new form of consciousness registered her and tried to stir. My eyes fluttered open and I found myself strapped to a metal chair that was fused to the floor. The metal shackles were fused to the chair's arms and there was one that went across my torso horizontally. My mind took in the truly horrifying sight before me.

Everyone that had left for the mission was in a room that was roughly fifty yards by fifty each in a chair identical to mine and spaced about a foot away from each other forming a circle around the room. Bella was to my left and Jasper was to my right. Alice was to Jasper's right then it went Esme, Amun, Kate, Carlisle, Benjamin, Kebi, Kachiri, Tia, Emmett, Tanya, Irina, Rosalie, Carmen, Zafrina, Senna, and Eleazar who was to the left of Bella.

The room resembled something of a medieval dungeon with its high, vaulting ceiling and cracked, grey stoned walls, floor, and roof. There was a double-door entrance that was behind Carmen, Rosalie, and Irina. I looked first at Bella, who had some scratches on her face to my alarm but was otherwise ok, and the others, who were starting to stir out of the fog that we were put under.

"Bella, what happened?" I asked frantically, "Why didn't you faint?" She looked at me and shrugged, "I have no idea, but whatever happened to all of you just didn't happen to me."

"She's a shield," said Eleazar wearily, "I am not exactly sure how I know it, but I do. I can sort of feel what you are capable of. I can feel Jasper's control of gravity, and Emmett's strength. Even you, Edward, can—" He started, but was cut off maddeningly by the doors opening and the sound of footsteps reverberating off of the barren walls. Eleazar quieted and everyone's head snapped in the direction of the intruder.

He, too, was in a long black robe that matched his shoulder-length black hair and contrasted sharply with his papery features. He looked like a statue made out of wax. He smiled a kind smile towards Carlisle, whose features did not change from his indifferent interest.

"I am sorry to burden you with such restraints, but I fear they are quite necessary," The man said in an airy voice.

"I fail to see the necessity if we mean peace, Aro," Carlisle said coolly. So this was the famed Aro. His gaze flitted around the room, nodding a few times as if in confirmation of something. His gaze crossed over me and back around the room to Carlisle.

"Well, I should probably introduce myself a little more formally to the rest of our audience, wouldn't you agree?" Aro asked.

"Whatever you wish," Carlisle said indifferently. A few other cloaked figures glided into the room and framed the walls. I counted eight. I shifted uneasily in my chair as Aro whirled and faced my side of the room.

"Hello, newcomers, my name is Aro," he said cordially; I hated him already, "and welcome to my—"

"—freaking dungeon," Emmett finished. Aro's head whipped in Emmett's direction with a pleasant smile and he laughed.

"Is that how you see it? My oh my," Aro said, shaking his head good naturedly; as if he were scolding a friend for being bold. Emmett snorted and rolled his eyes and one of the figures started to advance on him aggressively but Aro held out his hand.

"Allow me to introduce my friends to yours, Carlisle," Aro said with a smile. The cloaked figures put their cloaks down and I unfortunately recognized a few. There were five males and three women. There were two ancient-looking men to the left and right of Aro; both with the same papery features of Aro, one with snow-white hair and an absolutely bored expression and the other with matching shoulder-length black hair as Aro, but contrasted with his sharp features that were twisted into an expression of rage or distaste.

"This," Aro said, gesturing to the bored one, "is my dear brother Marcus, and this," to the other, "is my other brother Caius." Marcus looked like he couldn't care less and Caius just sneered at us. The two retreated to the wall behind me and waited for the rest to be introduced. The other six stepped forward. One of the women rivaled even Rosalie and Tanya in her looks, but her evil expression marred her attractiveness by loads. She had Demetri's olive complexion and was very tall; roughly five foot eleven or six foot. She had messily wavy brown hair that was cut to her chin and made her carved features pop.

"This is Heidi," Aro said lovingly, to which the tall woman bowed her head in Aro's direction curtly.

"This is James, and Demetri," He continued, "although I have heard that you have already met." James gave a sickly smile to Alice and I saw Jasper stiffen beside me. Demetri also looked at Jasper with a nasty gleam in his eye. This was not going to be fun.

Aro chuckled slightly. The girl directly behind him gave a musical laugh as well. She was of African decent and looked like a female version of the male next to her. They both looked angelic… angelically demonic.

"This is Jane," Aro said, indicating to the female, "and this is Alec," to the male. The next woman was paler than the rest of the guard, but still darker than the evil trio of brothers. She had black hair that was pin strait that went to her shoulders. She had a beak of a nose, pointed and slightly upwards, but it seemed to work for her. She, too, would have looked attractive if she smiled or didn't look so evil or deranged. She peered at everyone in the room with a calculative expression, looking at everyone in the room, some longer than others.

"This is Chelsea," Aro indicated, gesturing towards her. She inclined her head in a meaningful bow and I snorted. These people were so full of it. Chelsea's head whipped in my direction and she stared at me, mouth agape. Had she never seen anyone snort in disgust against her beloved master or something?

She whispered something in Aro's ear, still looking at me (wonder who she was talking about), and Aro's face lit up.

"Ah," He said dreamily, "Well, we have pressing business to attend to here." Oh, is that what they are calling it now? He continued, "We are what I like to call scientists," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"As opposed to being called sadistic bastards?" Alice said interestedly. Aro looked at her, puzzled, like he had never seen someone act in such a way. Jane actually curled her lips over her teeth and SNARLED. I mean, whoa, snarl?!

"Easy, there, Jane," Aro said, amused, "Yes, dear Alice, we are scientists. I have aided many Agilests find their talents and use them to their finest potential. Chelsea, here, can detect your talent and we will put you in a situation that will allow you to unlock said power." I did NOT like where this was going.

"We will start with Alice, since she is so into this conversation," He said with a loving smile in her direction. Jasper started to wrestle with his restraints in vain as he looked desperately at Alice. I don't know how it happened, but this room seems to be more advanced than it lets on; Alice's chair slid to the middle of the floor with no help of a person, and even the floor seemed to move like a puzzle piece. The crowd in the center of the room parted as Alice's chair slid to the center of the room and turned to face my side of the room like some vicious children's ride.

The room silenced as Alice's chair stopped moving.

"James, I believe you requested to take this one, correct?" Aro said and Jasper's feral snarls and threats filled the room. Aro looked at Jasper, than at Jane.

"Perhaps we should introduce dear Jasper to Jane for a moment before we begin," Aro said lightly. Jane smiled politely in Jasper's directions and his eyes shut tightly and his jaw flexed as if in pain. A few yells of anguish escaped his lips but he bit them before anything else could escape.

"ENOUGH!" Carlisle yelled, "You have made your point clear!" Aro patted Jane's shoulder and she released Jasper from whatever sick snare she had on his mental mind. He let out a whoosh of air and snapped his head in Alice's direction, who was staring at him in terror.

"I'm fine, Alice," He told her. She nodded and looked at Aro.

"You gonna teach me a lesson, too?" Alice asked defiantly.

"Oh no, not me," Aro said light-heartedly, "James here will be tending to you."

"I love how you make it sound like I am at a spa or something," She said in a mockingly kind voice, "It really makes this whole dungeon motif much less scary."

James approached her and she looked up at him from her chair.

"We meet again, oh grungy one," she said in a sober tone. Emmett, Kate, Rosalie, Bella, and I all chuckled and tried to refrain from laughing. Alice appraised his robe, "although I think I should call you Obi Wan with THAT get out."

"Come to the daaahk side, Alice," Emmett said in a perfect impersonation of Darth Vader. Everyone in shackles pretty much went ahead and laughed at this; that is, until Jane smiled at Alice and her laughs turned to yells.

That would sober anyone up pretty nicely.

Jasper struggled against his restraints again and started cursing until Aro held a hand up to Jane. She stopped looking at Alice and Alice started to pant.

"Hey now," She said, breathing heavily, "don't take the fun away from my dear friend, James."

"Yes, Jane," James sneered, "I will take it from here, thank you."

My stomach turned in knots as James took out a horrific-looking knife, much like the one Alice used, and held it up; inspecting it in this light.

"Do you know what this is Alice?" James asked kindly, his back to us but I could practically see his snide face.

"No, educate me," Alice spat at him. In seconds James plunged the knife and sliced Alice's thigh. Jasper was going wild next to me and we all started to struggle harder against the restraints. Alice panted a little harder and let out a yell.

"With friends like you who needs enemies?" She said, "But your technique was all wrong," She went on, wincing a little, "I mean, sure, you pierced the skin, but your wrist was as stiff as a plank of wood and you had no control over the blade."

"Shut up you stupid little girl!" James snarled, slicing her other leg. She winced and slammed to the back of the chair. She let out a pealing shriek of pain.

"For heaven's sake, Aro!" Carlisle shouted, "Is there a point to all of this?!"

"Wait, my dear friend, wait," Aro said. Alice shut her eyes tighter, bit her lip and nodded.

"Yup," She said after a second of her collecting herself, "Yup, that one was better. But, pray tell, what is the point of all this? Or is this merely meant to cut me to ribbons?"

"Take a look at your thigh, Alice," Aro said. Alice looked at her thigh and gasped. I looked and did the same. What should have been a deep, gushing wound was now nothing but fresh, exposed skin.

"Alice, here, can regenerate tissues in her body and heal rapidly," Aro announced proudly, as if announcing his dog has learned to sit, "We have estimated her healing to about four-hundred percent faster."

"You know, Aro," Alice said, "I would have been just fine with you TELLING me that; you didn't have to go through the trouble with the knife-wielding thing."

"Quiet, you," James growled, "I can give you more wounds to heal if you want; you can heal faster, but you still feel pain."

"You are SUCH a charmer, James," Alice said flatly.

"Well, I think we are finished with Alice, for now," Aro said, as Alice's chair started to slid back into place (to which she went "weeeeee!" like a kid on a ride).

"Who's next?" Aro said with a gleam in his milky eyes, "who wants to be discovered?"

That should be the name of some television series.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Both this chapter and the next are a little dark, and this one sort of gruesomely depressing, but it will look up next chapter. **

Chapter Thirteen

"_Who's next?" Aro said with a gleam in his milky eyes, "who wants to be discovered?" _

_That should be the name of some television series. _

I don't really know what Aro was expecting, but I wasn't expecting what Bella did.

"OOH!" She said, with child-like excitement, "Oh please! Me! Me!" She said, wiggling and trying to hold her hand up despite her shackles. She abruptly stopped with a thoughtful expression, "Oh, wait; no, I don't want that, because I am not a freaking PSYCHOPATH!"

I looked frantically from Aro to Bella; she was no doubt going to be his next target, cheerily plunging knives or syringes into her or something.

"I'll go next," I said hastily, trying to avert his attention from Bella, I looked at Bella, "Call me a psychopath," I said with a smirk. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but I only looked at Aro, who was smiling at me in the creepiest of nice ways.

"See, everyone?" He asked, looking around the room, "Edward, here, has a grip of the situation."

"Yes," I said calmly, staring Aro down from my chair, "I have come to grips with how twisted your mind is. Regardless, let me get this over with."

Aro's smile faltered a little and his eyebrows knit together.

"Well, I do not believe you have grasped the seriousness of the situation," Aro said with a slight frown, "wanting to be discovered merely to get it over with is not enough. I think Bella should go." I looked at him in horror.

"Why?!" I said after a second.

"Well, I think that once your love has been discovered you will appreciate it more," Aro said. Translation: he wants to use Bella to get me to cooperate. My eyes narrowed and my mind raced with how I could rectify the situation. It was too late, however, because Bella's chair had started to slide to the center of the floor already. I struggled at the restraints furiously and started to really hate this power Aro had over the room- no; I had STARTED to hate it a while back, now I was at the murderously loathing stage. Saying that I was struggling was a massive understatement. I resembled something of a mad man, I am sure, struggling against the restraints.

"Fear not, Edward," Aro chimed, "you will be able to assist dear Bella with her task, thankfully." I stopped struggling; this could be either really good or really bad; and, honestly, how much good has happened here?

Bella's chair came to a halt and her chair seemed to seep into the floor as if through quicksand, and the restraints on her wrist and torso were replaced with shackles and chains attached to the floor; leaving her standing up, tense, and shackled to the floor. I sat tensely in my chair, wondering what she was going to have to do and nearly coming up sick with what my mind thought of.

"Bella, here," Aro said, "Is a shield. She is immune to the effects of Alec's numbing power, Jane's gift, and even my mind reading." Bella looked at Aro with a flat expression.

"Bella's power is instinctually able to protect herself," Aro said as my chair started to move and sit opposite Bella in the circle, "but she needs practice if she is going to be able to shield others from attack." I started to NOT like where this was going as Jane stepped from the crowd of cloaked maniacs and nearer to me and Bella. She lowered her hood and looked at me with a menacing expression, one that I responded to with a bored disinterest much like Marcus'.

"So Bella will practice by shielding Edward from Jane," Aro said cheerily as Bella's eyes widened.

"Aro," She breathed, "I have no idea what to do… I barely knew I could do anything!" She said, her volume rising to one of hysteria.

"Fret not, dear Bella," Aro said, "it will come to you."

"Aro," Carlisle protested, "you cannot expect her to know how her power works! And doing what you plan to do has no scientific gain, only some gruesome will's desire to see pain and revel in it. Surely you are not so unreasonable!"

Aro looked shocked, "I do not enjoy pain, dearest Carlisle. What on Earth led you to that assumption?"

"How about letting your lapdog slice me up?" Alice asked, "That did it for me, I don't know about the rest of you."

"Aro does not have to defend our judgments to any of you," Caius sneered. Emmett's eyebrows rose, "Oh, they are YOUR decisions too? From where I sit I only see Aro operating. You guys are aware that he's the kind of guy that will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if that means throwing you guys under the bus—" He said but was cut of when Aro crossed the room and literally bitch-slapped him, looking very much unlike himself.

"Jane!" He yelled, "Teach him!"

And Jane smiled at Emmett and he thrashed about in his chair, holding his mouth shut and careful not to let out a peep.

"Stop it, you animal!" Rosalie shrieked, looking ready to shoot lasers from her eyes and decapitate every cloaked figure in the room. Jane laughed and released Emmett, who actually laughed. He chuckled a deep, throaty laugh, looking Aro strait in the eyes.

"You know I read somewhere that the things that make you the angriest are the things you know are true?" He asked, "Wise words, wouldn't you say—" He started.

"Silence!" Aro yelled, and I noticed the brothers of his shift uneasily in the corner, worry on their faces (which was an odd contrast from Caius' smugness and Marcus' boredom).

"Take a good look, buddies," I told them, "You'll be here in no time in the name of science."

"Commence with the training!" Aro yelled as Jane smiled at me.

Damn.

I faintly heard Bella's squeak of surprise as I felt my every nerve scream in protest but I focused on keeping my face as expressionless as possible. I slammed my head back into the seat so that it lined every inch of my spine, neck, and back of the head and closed my eyes and breathed heavily through my nose, trying to keep myself under control. I had no idea when or if Bella was going to shield me, but I was buckling down for years of pain.

"Come on, Bella," I heard someone call, and I thanked heaven for them but could not recognize the voice in my current state of pain, "you got this."

"Hang in there, Edward," I heard someone say behind me. I nodded curtly, aware that if I opened my mouth I was surely going to emit the loudest of screams known to man and if I opened my eyes that they would portray the anguish I felt.

I could not do that to Bella.

I could feel my brow start to quiver along with the muscles that were bunched up trying to hold in its torture after what seemed like an eternity.

After seconds, minutes, hours, or years of nerve-ripping agony, I felt the first twinge of relief. Maybe I was dying or becoming numb, or maybe my nerve-ending had simply met their match and refused to let my brain know just how much my body was in pain. I risked opening my eyes a twinge and saw Bella looking positively disheveled and focusing extremely hard. She had a hand extended towards me as if asking for a high five, but hand the other on her clenched brow and just shielding her shut eyes from the lights.

After a few seconds Jane's power had receded to a faint tingling in my hands. I looked at Jane with what I hoped was a smug expression of defiance at her futile attempts to zap me as her smile turned to a disbelieving look than to an infuriated glare. With the glare the tingling turned to the feeling of slight razor cuts on my forearms, but Bella huffed (seeming to find the weakness in her shield) and ground her teeth together. The tingling was completely gone as was every other feeling of pain.

"I am in no pain," I declared, "stop this, Aro."

Bella opened her eyes and looked at me with a crazed expression. I returned her gaze with an intense one and nodded curtly in encouragement. Aro clapped, clearly having regained his cheery composure, and put a hand on Jane's shoulder, who stopped using her power but continued to glare at my gloating expression. The expression was whipped off of my face as Bella collapsed on her knees in exhaustion and bent her head, panting heavily.

"Are you alright, Bella?" I asked frantically. She looked at me with a disbelieving look, "Am I alright?! Are YOU alright?" I nodded fervently and she smiled slightly and sighed, "Good." Bella's chains reeled into the floor until her forearms were against the floor. The back of her chair and the arms of her chair started to rise out of the floor and she crouched so that she was perched on the chair. She let out a surprised yelp when the metal strap that went around her torso started to close around her and she straitened her legs so she was properly sitting in the chair as it clasped shut. Both of our chairs slid back into their position and we looked at Aro expectantly, waiting to see what he would pull out of his I Am a Nutcase hat next.

"Do you not see, my friends," Aro said, "how beneficial this was for Bella?" This guy was a class A nimrod.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"_Do you not see, my friends," Aro said, "how beneficial this was for Bella?" This guy was a class A nimrod. _

Rosalie scoffed. Aro turned to her, "Something the matter," Aro said with a concerned furrow to the brow, "Rosalie dearest?"

She rolled her eyes, "Hmm, let me PONDER that one for a moment there, Aro," She said, biting her lower lip and looking calculative, "Oh yeah! I am being held by some sadist along with all the people I know and love and am in a freaking DUNGEON. Not to mention the fact that said sadists are putting said loved ones through complete and total hell in the name of 'science'," she clarified while using her pointer and middle fingers to make quotation marks in the air, "I don't know, though, Aro. Do you see anything in that summary that should worry me?"

Aro looked at Rosalie blankly as she just glared balefully at him, "I mean COME ON! 'Can't you see, my friends, how beneficial this was for Bella?'!? Did you treat your friends like this in high school?! Or, seeing how you are obviously a spawn of Satan, did you only get Daddy's attention when torturing others and saw this as a means to do it with an excuse?"

"I could see why you would think that, Rosalie," Aro mused, "But you are too narrow minded to see the larger picture! You will thank me, I am sure, after your turn has come and you know your talent," Aro said, looking like he found solace in this nonexistent comfort.

"Perhaps," He said, "to illustrate to you the immensity of it all, we should let you go next." Emmett looked positively terrorized, with good reason, and looked at Rose warningly. She smiled at him, and the look scared me. It was like she was saying goodbye.

"I love you," She mouthed, than turned to Aro to glare again.

"You gonna get this show on the road or do I have to drag the chair to the center of the coliseum myself?" She asked flatly. Aro inclined his head and her chair moved to the center of the room at that agonizingly slow pace that these chairs moved.

Aro's eyes closed and his face lifted as if he were feeling the rain. During his meditation or whatever, a circular cage rose from the ground out of nowhere around Rosalie's chair so close to her it nearly scraped her knees and sliced her hair coming up; after the cage was in place, her chair's restraints opened.

"Stand," commanded Aro, still in his thoughtful state. Rosalie obeyed wordlessly and stood, awkwardly bending over the chair in her minimal space. The chair sank into the floor quite literally like through quick sand and disappeared, leaving Rose alone in the circular cage of hers. She circled slowly in the cage like a predator looking for adversaries. Aro's head bowed, eyes still closed, and he seemed to concentrate harder.

The room's walls expanded and all of our chairs spaced out from our foot-away stance to about four feet of space in between the chairs, enlarging the circle of captives quite a bit and moving us away from each other and Rose.

I looked nervously around the room, some of the others frantically meeting my gaze and looking at the others. The cloaked figures stayed unmoving near Aro; waiting for this freak show to commence.

Aro's eyes opened and he appraised his new setting with calm eyes. He closed his eyes again and I saw a metal shaft about the size of a two by four surface from the backs of the chairs of my friends. I twisted in my chair and, sure enough, there was a metal shaft on the back of my chair as well. I looked back at Aro, puzzled about this new addition, but he did not resurface from his thoughts yet. I looked at the planks again a pad with a handprint on it- or, rather, a scanner for a handprint- had formed on the planks. It looked like one of those spy scanners that you have to put your palm on in order to enter your top-secret layer. I looked and, yup, there was one on my chair, too.

Rosalie was looking at this new addition through narrowed eyes and the bars of her cage.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Aro said.

"Skip to the part where I go through my personal hell," Rosalie snapped.

Aro looked taken aback, but conceded, "Well, your task that will help you fulfill your greatness is not a complex one. As you can see, your comrades have an addition to their restraints. This addition will send a sensation running through their bodies. Here, I will show you the effect it will have on them," He closed his eyes and re-obtained that contemplative expression and Rosalie collapsed in her cage, screaming while clutching at her temples.

"ROSE!" Emmett bellowed, and I would have hoped he would have been more successful against his restraints, but he struggled against them to no avail. Aro opened his eyes and Rosalie instantly sprang from her crouch, glaring at Aro with the most menacing of stares, "You so much as put one of their nerve endings through that and I swear to you Aro—" she said, but cut off when Jane smiled at her and she staggered against the bars for support while writhing in agony. Everyone stared at the sight before them completely baffled and horrified except for Aro and his sadist guard.

"Stop this madness, Aro," Carlisle yelled over Rose's screams, looking at Rose. Aro obliged and put a hand on Jane, who released Rosalie. She straitened herself in her cage and looked at Aro expectantly.

"Your friends will get that spark in sporadic times and intervals," Aro said, "All you must do is put your hand on the receiver on their additions to stop the shock." He finished as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"One problem," Rose said, "there are twenty-four of them, one of me, and I am in a cage. Oh shoot, that is more than one problem."

Aro's eyes closed and the ceiling lifted further up, and a sort of viewer's box came down out of the fifty-foot tall roof. A staircase was erected from the walls and Aro and the guard went up it and into the viewing box that was perched in the corner of the room where the ceiling and the walls meet.

"Let's solve some of those problems, shall we?" Aro said as he and his guard ascended the staircase and went into the weird watch box.

"Let's hear it for the best seats in the house, folks," Garret said, glaring at the party in the box above us.

The staircase curved back into the wall and Rose's cage lowered, leaving the guard and Aro out of reach and Rosalie in an even more arena-like setting.

"How will I know when—" She started to ask but was cut off by Benjamin's scream.

"Shit!" She cursed and ran over to him, putting a hand on his sensor.

"Are you ok—?" Another yell of pain coming from Senna interrupted her. She ran over to her and put her hand there, but had little time before Bella next to me yelled and thrashed violently. My pulse quickened as Rosalie ran across the room to Bella. Carlisle and Emmett both yelled and shut their eyes tight as their sensors went off. Rosalie cursed again and touched Emmett's than ran across the room to Carlisle's.

I didn't register her touching Carlisle's though, because I could have sworn somebody set my chair ablaze in the next second. I thrashed, trying to smother the flame that I was sure was cooking my insides. The pain came to a sudden halt as Rosalie's frantic hand touched my sensor. I couldn't see her face, for she had already whirled to get Eleazar and Zafrina across the room.

"What the FUCK is my power, huh?!" Rosalie belted out as five others started to burn. I looked frantically at Bella and she looked at me. I witnessed in terror as her beautiful face twisted into one of anguish; she was burning again. Rosalie touched Tanya's, Irina's, and Garret's before she got to Bella and I nearly went mad having to sit there and watch my angel get torched.

A shriek of desperation escaped Rosalie as she pretty much just tapped everyone's sensor in a circle; running along the circle and tapping the sensors frantically. She started to weep after a minute of this and I tried to assure her through my flames as well as the others.

"Don't worry about us, Rose," I said in what I hoped was loud enough for her to hear but steady enough to mask the pain.

"Yeah, fuck them Rosalie," Kate said, wincing and trying to refrain from screaming, as were the rest of us. We all pretty much burned at once by this time, and only had about six seconds of relief after Rose touched our sensors before it started again. It was like some sick electric chair; the shock was bad enough to have you pray for death, but not enough to actually do you in.

It was only until after the fifth time that she had touched my sensor- effectively giving me clarity of thought- that I saw her talent…or had gone completely insane. I could swear I saw three Rosalie's running around, looking startled by seeing each other, but otherwise intent on stopping their friends' demise.

After the fourth Rosalie came into view, the shock stopped for everyone. I looked around to the equally baffled expressions of everyone else. The Rosalie's looked at each other, some raising their hands or touching their face to see if it was a reflection, but the others did not mirror their actions.

"You see?" Aro called from the box in a truly giddy tone, "Do you see what you have discovered with us? You can duplicate!" He announced, drunk by his own happiness.

"How do I get back to one…me?" the Rose closest to Carlisle asked confusedly.

"Seriously, this is wigging me way out," the Rose to the first's left said. The other Rosalie's nodded in agreement and I found myself nodding, too; one Rosalie can be overwhelming enough.

What is WITH the Agilest World, huh?! Intent on making freaks, I see.

"That is so hot," Emmett whispered, mouth agape and marveling at the Rosalie's. They all giggled slightly at his boldness but sobered up immediately when Jane cleared her throat. A chorus of glares erupted from the Rosalie's in Jane's direction.

"What, are you going to try to hurt all of us at the same time?" One of them barked. The one closest to me looked at the ground and wrinkled her brow as if in concentration; and after a second or two another Rosalie sprouted from the one nearest me. My eyes widened.

"Rosalie, find a way to the box," I hissed. Rosalie's face lit up like she was proud of herself. She had gotten the hang of how to duplicate herself. In seconds flat there were at least twenty around the room. The climbed on each other and tried to wrestle the restraints on us. Jane tried to contain some but only managed to get three writhing in pain. Aro closed his eyes and chains wrapped around ten, but at least fifteen replaced them.

It was THE strangest thing I have ever seen, and that is saying something. I saw Alec close his eyes and felt that familiar dizzy sensation I did in the forest.

"Rosalie!" Eleazar yelled lazily, "Get Alec!"

I struggled for consciousness as I saw the Rosalie's literally step out of themselves and climb on top of each other's shoulders. It was a pyramid of slightly sleepy but otherwise completely determined Rosalie's.

"Bella, shield her…them," I slurred. I saw Bella nod and focus as she shielded everyone in the room somehow.

"Well done, Bella," Carlisle marveled. Bella nodded in affirmation of his compliment but was otherwise unresponsive as she shielded us all from the fog. The Rose at the top of the fleet of Rosalie's pyramid found her way to the box and leaped inside. Once inside, she duplicated herself five more times, than looked surprised. I guess that thirty was her limit or something. Some of the other Rosalie's on the floor were actually sucked into the others in the box, than stepped out of one of them and joined them in the box to fight the cloaked figures. The Rosalie's managed to take out Jane, Alec, and Felix (quite and accomplishment due to his sheer size), but were having trouble with James, Heidi, Chelsea, Aro, Caius, and Marcus.

I was quite surprised that the ancient, evil brothers could so much as swing their leg in an offensive manor, let alone fight, but Aro got in a couple of good right hooks. One Rose finally won out and managed to knock him unconscious.

To every prisoner's surprise, Aro had conjured up the entire place. Once he was knocked unconscious, everything his mind had made up went with it. The chairs all disappeared, setting us free, and so did the room, including the "viewer's box" above; which sent everyone their tumbling to the floor. Luckily, all of the Rosalie's were sucked back into the last remaining Rose on the floor before they hit the ground so that no part of her was hurt. She slid us a look, "That was the weirdest thing I have ever seen or felt."

I sprang up from the ground and looked around. It was as if the whole freaking castle had never been there. We were back in that field that was in front of the castle, only we were where the castle should have interrupted the field and we had a great view of the forest and some small villages moving happily in apathetic time down the hill.

Can you say HOLY FUCK!? Well I can, and I did a million-and-one times in my head as I starred at this completely unnatural phenomenon.

I looked past our general party (which included all of us and the unconscious guard because of their fall) and found a few other very confused looking cloaked figures- more parts of the guard.

"Keep the shield, Bella," I said. Without really thinking, I ran to James and took his knife, stabbed Aro so he couldn't wake and reinforce the castle, and ran to the other momentarily stunned cloaked figures and killed them before they knew what hit them. Everyone pretty much caught onto the gist and they continued to kill the unconscious guard and conscious guard. Only one put up much of a fight, blowing a ring of fire around him, but Benjamin forced the wind to circle around him, suffocating the flames, and Kate ran in and zapped him with that electric touch of hers until he died by her hand.

When the last cloaked figure's breath left his lips, we slowly switched back from survival mode back into ourselves. My eyes kept hunting the horizon, expecting the walls of the castle to rise and the chains to bind my wrists again.

Hell, I was going to need some serious therapy.

We all kind of stood there; kind of like stupidly saying "what now?" until we flew into our respective partners, frantically searching if we were all right. Bella was in my arms faster than you could say "deranged psychopathic manic".

In this moment I was immensely content, just having Bella in my arms and everyone I cared about safe from the hellish prison we literally whipped off the map.

**A/N: Epilogue coming up :) (You know you are on fanfiction when you read something that says "R & R" and you know it doesn't mean "rest and relaxation" but "read and review")**


	15. Chapter 15

Epilogue

What do you do when you have overcome all of the lurking demons in the shadows? Do you get married to the love of your life? Do you live happily in an otherwise frozen world, but are quite content to live behind the scenes with people you care about? Do you have Agilest children with scarily awesome talents?

Bella and I did all of these.

"Ah!" I exclaimed as a bottle flew past me. My head whipped from looking inside the pantry to find cheerios back to the high chair where my first born, Addie, was sitting with a grin on her two-year-old face and my eyes narrowed, knowing that she didn't physically throw that sippy-cup.

"Getting impatient?" I asked, trying to sound stern but failing miserably, a laugh escaping my lips. She merely looked at the bottle that lay on the other side of me now and it rose into the air next to me and stayed there suspended.

"Use your big girl words, Addie," Bella said sternly walking into the room with our one-year-old son, William (thank God that she can be the disciplinary one), "not your power."

"Milk too, daddy," She said in the most adorable little voice I had ever heard. God knows that I would give her the world if she asked me to do it like that. I took the cup from her telekinetic grip and crossed the kitchen to the fridge and poured her milk while Bella got her Cheerios, somehow knowing that I was getting that before almost getting pelted with a bottle by my daughter. I shot her a thankful look to which she laughed.

"If you don't start telling her to stop using her power I am going to come home to a husband that resembles Swiss cheese," She said while laughing with a gorgeous smile on her face. I sighed.

"She may also have a power to get me to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants," I mused, than shrugged and leaned up against the counter, "Must have inherited it from her mother." Bella grinned cheekily and kissed me before putting Will into a high chair of his own.

"I am getting better, Mommy," Addie said between happy slurps of milk. She bounced in her chair slightly and her bronze-colored curls danced, brushing against her rosy cheeks and her long lashes.

"Are you, now?" Bella asked with a smile. Addie nodded, her curls springing wilder still.

"What can you move now?" Bella asked.

"You," Addie declared confidently. Bella's eyes widened.

"Me?" She whispered, looking at me for confirmation, but I was just as stunned.

"God I hope not," I said, "we'd never see you again! Carlisle—er Grandpa, would steal you forever to experiment with you." Not that Addie wouldn't love that; Carlisle let her lift and throw whatever she wanted in his lab and gave her candy when she did well. Bella and I wanted to see our daughter, for one thing, and we didn't want her lifting up the house "because she could". If he knew about this, he would get her probably three times a week as opposed to once the once a week that he already gets her. We had basically made Carlisle and Esme Grandpa and Grandma; a post to which they had taken to with amazing finesse. Grandma Esme cooked up the richest sweets for them and gave them the "coolest gifts".

Bella and I decided to ask Alice and Jasper to be the Godmother and Godfather; and, like Carlisle and Esme, played a huge role in their lives. Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie made sure the two were never dressed in the same clothes twice.

"The kids are gorgeous enough to be GAP models, anyways," Alice brushed off our telling her that she REALLY didn't need to buy so many clothes for our kids, "we are just letting them fulfill their potential." Rosalie confirmed. We shrugged it off; it was clear that Alice and Rosalie got something out of this therapeutically or something, and Addie loved it. When Will was old enough to get annoyed, I would put a stop to his side of being Will the Ken doll. I doubted Addie would ever grow out of it; she seemed to acquire Alice's love for clothes. Jasper got Will a bunch of action figures and comic books- probably trying to combat the utter girlness that poor Will had to endure during dress-up. The kid was amazingly patient.

I was mildly surprised that Rosalie had enough time to play dress-up with my kids, what with her having twins with Emmett, but she managed. Her children, Lilly and Jennifer, were both Will's age and as blonde and beautiful as Rose. They had Rosalie's deep blue eyes, but Emmett's dimples and loose curls- not cork-screw curls like Addie. Alice and Rose had a blast putting on a baby runway every Friday night.

"Yup," Addie said, snapping me out of my reverie, "I can lift Gampa." So Carlisle had been holding out on us.

"Did you hurt him?" Bella asked, alarmed. Addie probably had to try a few times, and probably dropped Carlisle once or twice in the process. Addie winced a little, "Only once…" she mumbled.

"That's great, sweetie," I gushed, and Bella shot me a look, "Not that she dropped Grandpa," I added hastily, "but that she is getting better." Addie's answering smile was blinding. Will's large, consuming brown eyes probed my profile until I met his eyes. Will definitely hade Bella's eyes, whereas Addie had mine. He had my wavy hair and Bella's color hair. He was like an old man inside a little boy; he had bounds of patients, ate whatever you fed him without fuss, slept when in bed, and kept quiet mostly. Sparks of Little Brother Syndrome shines through every now and then and he will annoy Addie somehow, but other than that he is perfectly content. I just pray that it will last through the "terrible two's".

Now those large pools of so many shades of brown prodded mine until I got it, he probably wanted food, too. I poured him a bowl of Cheerios and set it before him. He smiled up at me with a few teeth still missing and dug in. I ruffled his hair and leaned against the counter near Bella. She leaned over until she was leaning up against me and I put an arm around her waist and held her closer to me as we just reveled in the moment.

I looked around our kitchen for what felt like the millionth time since we moved here when Bella was pregnant with Addie. Carlisle managed to get making Agilest zones down to an exact science and promptly made one for each sprouting family. Bella and mine as a humble two story cottage that fit our lifestyle perfectly: enough space for growing kids and enough simplicity for new parents.

The outside had stone trim on the bottom half of the first floor's walls and you could barely tell that there was a second story other than the windows peeking out of the very tall roof. The windows had a diamond pattern on them and were trimmed with a three inch border of wood. The house may have been modest, but the lawn was positively huge. I sometimes worried that an Apathy would wander on our patch of land or something, but Bella assured me that no Apathy knew of or could see here. The lawn had sporadic flowerbeds around it and from it sprouts many types of flowers through the lush soil.

Addie and Will love being outside and running around (well, however well a one- and two-year old CAN run) the lawn. When they are about five and six Bella wants me to put up a swing set, which would "complete the fairytale ending". Will practiced his talent of changing colors every now and again to see if he could blend in with the lawn and be invisible (and it is my nightmare that he will one day succeed). Carlisle tried to invite Will to his sessions with Addie, but Bella insisted he wait until Will was at least two.

Quite frankly, having two wonderful children and the most beautiful wife in the world was enough of a fairytale ending for me; but we went ahead and added that fantasy twist that I thought couldn't have existed- the world of the Agilests.

**A/N: Horray! I have already thought of (and have been thinking of) a new story, and I should have its start up by the weekend. Check it out! It will be called The Grapevines or something like that. :) Thank you my lovely readers**


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